UNEB releases O’level results

Feb 11, 2007

The anxiously awaited 2006 O’level results were finally released yesterday. But the usual excitement was tempered as UNEB announced it had scrapped the examination centre status of seven schools and nullified 2,742 results over malpractices.

By Anne Mugisa and
Fortunate Ahimbisibwe

The anxiously awaited 2006 O’level results were finally released yesterday. But the usual excitement was tempered as UNEB announced it had scrapped the examination centre status of seven schools and nullified 2,742 results over malpractices.

The schools whose examination centres were closed are St. Noa Girls School Zana and St. Augustine College in Wakiso district, St. Jude SS in Mityana, Kagadi Progressive SS in Kibale, Kampala Citizens College in Kampala, Shuuku Vocational SS in Bushenyi and Saviours SS in Lira.

Nine other schools in five central districts were “strongly warned.” They include the Kampala schools: Bwaise Parents High School, Chwa II Memorial College and Vision College Kikajjo. Others are Greenlight High School and Merryland High School Entebbe in Wakiso, Katikamu SS in Luweero, Kaddugala SS in Masaka, Light College Mukono and Mukono High School.

“Examiners discovered cases of prior knowledge at some centres, mainly in private schools in Kampala, Wakiso and Luweero areas. Cases of external assistance given to candidates were also identified mainly in those areas,” Executive Secretary, Mathew Bukenya said. Most of the leakage was found with science and Mathematics papers.

Pressed about the leakage, Bukenya explained that this was traced back to Kahunge Mission storage station in Kamwenge, where some papers had been photocopied. The Police discovered some of the leaked Mathematics questions one day before the examination. The investigating officer at CID later confirmed they were substantially the same as in the papers.

Bukenya revealed that the source of the leakage, a Makerere University student, was later arrested. This led to the arrest of other people at Makerere and Ndejje Universities and the Law Development Centre.

“A total of 16 suspects have so far been charged in court, none of them are UNEB staff,” Bukenya explained.

A total of 2,742 candidates had their results nullified, most of them from the blacklisted schools. They were accused of various forms of malpractices including impersonation (sitting exams for another person), smuggling unauthorised material into the examination room and external assistance.

The overall results show that science subjects continue to be problematic, in spite of the government policy to make sciences compulsory. The failure rate for Physics country-wide is 37.3%, for Biology 47.9% and for Chemistry 49.8%. Like last year, girls performed worse than boys in these subjects.

UNEB has blamed the poor performance on lack of practical experience and proper laboratories.

“A survey carried out during the examination period revealed that 48.4% of the centres either had no laboratory on only a poorly equipped room,” Bukenya noted.

The results also indicate that Masaka, Mukono and Wakiso districts performed best, with all their best candidates scoring eight aggregates in eight subjects.

The total number of candidates reduced to 172,241 from last year’s 173,241 despite an increase in examination centres from 1808 to 1920. The statistics also indicate that the number of girls who sat for examination in 2006 went slightly up, from 45.1% to 45.2%.

Bukenya announced that 94.5% of the candidates qualify for the UCE certificate, with 11.9% in division one, 22.6% in division two, 25.8% in division three and 34.2% in division four, while 5.5% failed the examination.

Details of results from schools show Uganda Martyrs Namugongo in Wakiso with all 181 candidates in Division One, Gayaza High School in Wakiso with 168 in Division One and 10 in Division Two, Nabisunsa Girls in Mukono 193 in Division One, 16 in Division Two and three in Division Three.

Gombe SS has 191 students in Division One and 28 in Division Two, while Kibuli SS in Kampala has 243 in Division One, and one in Division Two.

St. Michael High School in Mukono has 47 students in Division One and 40 in Division Two, Kisubi High School has 75 in Division One and 25 in Division Two, Nile High School in Mukono has 40 in Division One and 30 in Division Two, St. Joseph’s Nsambya in Kampala has 99 in Division One and seven in Division Two, while Seeta High School has 234 in Division One and 22 in Division Two.

State minister for education and sports Charles Bakabulindi, who released the results, said the selection for Senior Five will take place on February 15 and 16. Senior Five starts on February 22.

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