Kalangala, Moroto, Kasese top A’ levels

Feb 27, 2010

MOROTO, Kasese and Kalangala districts emerged as the best in the advanced level examinations, released yesterday by the Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB).

By Conan Businge
and Raymond Baguma


MOROTO, Kasese and Kalangala districts emerged as the best in the advanced level examinations, released yesterday by the Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB).

Moroto had 79% of its candidates pass with at least two principal passes. It was followed by Kasese (78.6%), Kalangala (78.3%), Isingiro (75.6%) and Kanungu (75.3%).

Also among the top ten districts were Amuria (73.9%), Kibaale (73.2%), Kamwenge (73.1%), Kumi (72.8%) and Nakaseke (72.6%).

The worst performing districts were Amolatar, which had only 56.4% of its candidates pass with at least two principal passes, followed by Koboko (56%).

Amuru had the highest percentage of failures 6.9% followed by Koboko (6.4%), Bududa (5.7%) and Abim (5.4%).

In total, out of the 96,741 candidates who sat for A’level exams last year, 98.6% qualified for the award of Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education. This was an increase compared to last year when 98.2% qualified.

According to a UNEB statement, a slight drop was recorded in the percentage of those who had two principal passes, from 65% in 2008 to 62.5% in 2009.

However, in terms of numbers, 2,860 more candidates qualified for university education than the previous year, according to UNEB secretary Matthew Bukenya.

The performance of last year’s candidates is almost similar to that of 2008. About 21.6% of all students passed with four principal passes, compared to 24.6% in 2008.

Another 20.6% passed with three principal passes compared to 21.4% the previous year.
Girls had a slightly higher overall pass level than boys. However, more boys had two or more principal passes compared to their female counterparts.

Girls did better than boys in entrepreneurship, Islamic and Christian religious education, geography, literature in English, Kiswahili, and foods and nutrition.

The performance between boys and girls was about the same in mathematics, physics, chemistry and biology. In the past, boys performed significantly better than girls in mathematics and other science subjects.

This time, the Boys beat girls in economics, history, art, geometrical and building drawing.
However, the number of girls going for science subjects is still low compared to boys, according to UNEB. Their number dropped from 5,163 in 2008 to 3,355 last year.

Bukenya noted that most schools did not complete the syllabus which made some candidates fail the examinations.

“Some A’ level schools admit students who scored very low grades at O’ level; to offer subjects as principals. In end, such students fail final examinations,” Bukenya noted.

Candidates from the traditional schools had very good standards of English. However, the English of candidates in rural areas was poor.

Students were also found wanting in answering questions that required analysis, synthesis and evaluation. They were also poor at using scientific language.

A total of 73 candidates had their results withheld for malpractices, including receiving external assistance, collusion and impersonation. Most were from Buwenge College, Salvation College Kajjansi and Kingstone High School.

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