The First Lady who is also the Minister of Education and Sports on Thursday, March 7, 2024, released results for the 2023 Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE) indicating improvement in the quality of the candidate's work.

Uganda National Examination Board (UNEB) executive director, Dan Odongo, said examiners reported improvement in the quality of candidates' work, with higher mean scores in many subject areas where performance has been reported to have improved.

Dan Odongo, Executive Director UNEB

“Notable has been Biology, where performance has been rather poor in the past years. The core science subjects continue to show lower than desired principal performance levels.

The factors responsible for this state of affairs have been reported by UNEB during earlier releases of results. They include teaching theoretically, with candidates lacking in practical skills to perform experiments, record and interpret their results.

Fred Enanga, police spokesperson and Mary Okwakol, Executive Director National council for Higher Education

Questions based on practical experience posed problems as a result,” Odongo said.

UNEB Chairperson Prof Celestino Obua said, “The Board notes that entries for Sciences at UÁCE continue to be lower than for humanities.

Professor Celestino Obua, Chairperson Uganda Examinations Board

It is gratifying though that the numbers are going up. Honourable Minister, the performance of the candidates has improved especially at the upper level of candidates obtaining 3 Principal passes.”

He said female candidates have performed better, proportionally, than males at all levels and have shown a lower failure rate. Even at individual subject levels, they have shown a better performance, he added.

Joyce Kaducu, state minister primary education and John Chrysostom Muyingo state minister for higher education

“However, we continue to see a low percentage of the female candidates at this level offering Mathematics and Science combinations. The paradox, Honourable Minister is that the girls who offer the STEM subjects perform well, if not better than the boys. Why then do the girls shy away from these subjects?” he wondered

John Chrysestom Muyingo , state minister for higher education

A total of 110,569 sat their final Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education exams from 2,283 centers countrywide.

Odongo said university admissions to degree courses have, up to date, been considering 2 Principal level passes as the minimum requirement. If this consideration is maintained, 80,643 (73.7%) qualify to be admitted, compared to 67,815 (70.3%) in 2022.

Celestino Obua, Board Chairperson UNEB and Dan Odongo,ED UNEB

“This is consistent with the fact that there was better overall performance and a significant increase in entries for the examination in 2023. In cases where one Principal and two Subsidiary pass levels are considered for admission to other tertiary institutions, 90.7%% of the candidates will qualify. This is better when compared to 2022 with 89.3%.”