Girls outshine boys in UACE exams

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Female candidates have outperformed their male counterparts in the 2024 Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE) examinations, according to the Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) results.

Despite being fewer, female students achieved higher pass rates at the top levels, contributing to an overall high pass rate.

UNEB executive secretary Dan Odongo announced the results, noting that female students have consistently excelled in the UACE examinations.

“Over the years, female candidates, although fewer in number than the male candidates, have performed proportionally better than their male counterparts,” he observed.

According to Odongo, the percentage passes at the upper levels (3 principle passes and 2 principle passes) are higher, while the percentage passes at the lower levels and the failure rate among female candidates are lower than for the males.

First Lady and Minister for Education and Sports Mrs Janet Museveni, released the 2024 UACE results Friday, March 14, 2025, at State House, Nakasero.

A total of 141,996, Senior Six candidates registered for the 2024 examinations compared to 110,566 candidates in 2023; an increase of 31,430 candidates, representing 28.4%. Of these, 61,957 (43.6%) were females and 80,039 (56.4%) were males.

The centres where the students sat for the exams increased by 154 (7.3%) from 2,101 in 2023 to 2,255 in 2024.

However, the candidates who appeared for the examination were 140,888 compared to 109,486 in 2023, an increase of 31,402 candidates (28.7%). Of these, 61,598 (43.7%) were females and 79,290 (56.3%) were males.

According to data shared by the Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB), 35,652 candidates registered under the Universal Post-Level Education and Training (UPOLET) programme, representing 25.1% of the total number of candidates, sponsored by the Government.

UPOLET is a universal education programme that covers A-level, and it is similar to Universal Secondary Education (USE) for O’level and the Universal Primary Education (UPE) for primary.