By Fortunate Ahimbisibwe
and Raymond Baguma

THE results of the 2007 Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE) examinations released yesterday indicate that more candidates qualify for tertiary education compared to 2006.

Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) secretary, Mathew Bukenya said out of the 84,242 candidates who sat for the examinations, a total of 53,720 candidates got two principle passes, implying they qualify for tertiary education. This is an increase of 8,195 from the previous year.

While releasing the results at the Ministry of Education and Sports boardroom yesterday, Bukenya also noted that the total number of candidates had increased by 14,428 candidates from the previous year.

He, however, said there was no significant difference between the overall performance of last year (2007) and the previous year (2006).

Bukenya said the gender gap is closing. Female candidates increased from 28,430 in 2006 to 34,945 in 2007.
Girls performed better than boys in Christian Religious Education, Geography, and Literature. But boys did better in Economics and Biology.

“Performance in other science subjects is about the same and the gap has closed. But the number of girls doing sciences is still lower than that of boys.”
Bukenya said although the number of students taking science subjects remains low, accounting for less than 20% of candidates, there has been an increase in the last two years.

Education minister Namirembe Bitamazire said: “These are positive results from the policy of government to put emphasis on science as an essential ingredient in the transformation of the economy through technology.”

The results of 106 candidates have been cancelled for examination malpractice. The malpractices were in the form of external assistance, impersonation and smuggling materials into the examination room. This is a reduction from 128 candidates whose results were cancelled in 2006.

Bukenya said examiners wanted teaching materials, especially pamphlets, vetted before they are used in schools. “Examiners have complained about the over-reliance by teachers and candidates on pamphlets.

The pamphlets do not help students to develop critical thinking…Examiners have called for the vetting of materials such as these that go into the education system,” said Bukenya.

Bitamazire said the increase in the number of UACE candidates was as a result of Universal Primary Education (UPE) programme started by government in 1997. She also said the dropout rate for girls at secondary level had also reduced.