Top schools keep stiff S.1 cutoff points
Jan 29, 2009
TOP schools in the central region have maintained stiff entry points to Senior One in the ongoing selection exercise.
By Fortunate Ahimbisibwe
TOP schools in the central region have maintained stiff entry points to Senior One in the ongoing selection exercise.
However, other traditional schools in the countryside lowered their cut-off marks, a development attributed to poor performance in last year’s Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE).
St. Mary’s College Kisubi, Mt. St. Mary’s Namagunga, Kings College Budo and Uganda Martyrs Namugongo remained the most competitive. They admitted only students who scored aggregate four and five.
Other competitive schools included Gayaza High School, Nabisunsa Girls, Namilyango College, Trinity College Nabbingo, Kibuli SS, St. Henry College Kitovu, Ntare School, Gombe SS, and Makerere College.
About 1,000 head teachers are meeting at the Mandela National Stadium for the two-day selection exercise that ends today.
Selection officials said although the performance was not good, most top schools had only 120 vacancies but received close to 1,000 first choices.
Under the selection criteria, a candidate who misses the first choice automatically goes to the second choice. Priority is given to candidates who chose a particular school as their first choice.
Namboole stadium gates were closed to hundreds of anxious parents who flocked there to check if their children had been admitted.
While opening the selection exercise yesterday, the acting director of education, Yusuf Nsubuga, warned head teachers against raising school fees.
“There is public outcry that schools, especially those not under universal secondary education (USE), are taking advantage of the economic crisis to raise fees. The current economic situation does not justify setting prohibitive school fees structures,†he said.
Nsubuga told the head teachers that all students who scored up to aggregate 32 in PLE, qualify to join secondary school or vocational institutions.
There was a record low performance in last year’s PLE, with only 17,021 (3.7%) candidates in division one, 154,774 (33.4%) pupils in division two; while 138,796 (29.9%) were in division three. A total of 63,761 pupils (13.8%) passed in fourth division.
All students who scored above aggregate 28 do not qualify for government sponsorship under USE which is going into the third year of its implementation. They can only join private institutions.
Nsubuga said this was meant to encourage hard work among students if they are to access free education. Last year, 173,814 students were enrolled under USE. A total of 210,000 students are expected to join S.1 this year.
TOP schools in the central region have maintained stiff entry points to Senior One in the ongoing selection exercise.
However, other traditional schools in the countryside lowered their cut-off marks, a development attributed to poor performance in last year’s Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE).
St. Mary’s College Kisubi, Mt. St. Mary’s Namagunga, Kings College Budo and Uganda Martyrs Namugongo remained the most competitive. They admitted only students who scored aggregate four and five.
Other competitive schools included Gayaza High School, Nabisunsa Girls, Namilyango College, Trinity College Nabbingo, Kibuli SS, St. Henry College Kitovu, Ntare School, Gombe SS, and Makerere College.
About 1,000 head teachers are meeting at the Mandela National Stadium for the two-day selection exercise that ends today.
Selection officials said although the performance was not good, most top schools had only 120 vacancies but received close to 1,000 first choices.
Under the selection criteria, a candidate who misses the first choice automatically goes to the second choice. Priority is given to candidates who chose a particular school as their first choice.
Namboole stadium gates were closed to hundreds of anxious parents who flocked there to check if their children had been admitted.
While opening the selection exercise yesterday, the acting director of education, Yusuf Nsubuga, warned head teachers against raising school fees.
“There is public outcry that schools, especially those not under universal secondary education (USE), are taking advantage of the economic crisis to raise fees. The current economic situation does not justify setting prohibitive school fees structures,†he said.
Nsubuga told the head teachers that all students who scored up to aggregate 32 in PLE, qualify to join secondary school or vocational institutions.
There was a record low performance in last year’s PLE, with only 17,021 (3.7%) candidates in division one, 154,774 (33.4%) pupils in division two; while 138,796 (29.9%) were in division three. A total of 63,761 pupils (13.8%) passed in fourth division.
All students who scored above aggregate 28 do not qualify for government sponsorship under USE which is going into the third year of its implementation. They can only join private institutions.
Nsubuga said this was meant to encourage hard work among students if they are to access free education. Last year, 173,814 students were enrolled under USE. A total of 210,000 students are expected to join S.1 this year.