4000 pass technical, business examinations

TECHNICAL EDUCATION    

KAMPALA - Over 4,000 students passed last year's business and technical exams, records of results released by the Uganda Business and Technical Examination Board (UBITEB) have shown.

The results that were released on Friday showed that out of 5,251 candidates who sat for the exams, a total of 4,102 (84%) passed while 728 candidates (16%) failed.

According to the results, there was an 84% completion rate, an improvement from 81% posted in 2018.

Students sat for exams in five categories including technical diploma, physical and biological diplomas, physical and biological certificate, business diploma and business certificate.

Releasing the results, First Lady and Minister for Education Janet Museveni hailed the improvement, saying it was a move in the right direction for the country's job market.

"The BTVET Act of 2008 and BTVET skilling Uganda Strategic Plan have set a new direction and introduced new reforms which underscore the need for a paradigm shift and new methods of skills development. It is, therefore, gratifying to see that these youth successfully complete their skills training that open employment opportunities," she said.

"I must continue to urge you to move away from theoretical training to practical competency-based education and training because this is what makes graduates relevant to the job market through either creating jobs for themselves and others."

Onesmus Oyesigye, the UBTEB executive secretary, said the improvement in completion rates of learners was attributed to the syllabus coverage and continuous improvement in assessment mechanisms which collects evidence of candidates' competencies and real-life experiences. He also revealed that more females posted better completion as compared to females.

He said there was a need for retraining of instructors in order to add value to the sector in light of the changing technological advancement. "Whereas practical aspects in UBITEB have gained ground with an emphasis on competency-based Assessment; the instructors have not retooled in delivery of competency-based education and training programmes," he said.

He said there was a need to increase on allocations to training institutions as funds they receive are inadequate to cater to the increased cost of processing, delivering and administering examinations.

He said there was a need to address the low enrolment among females, which can be done through incentivizing female participation, including affirmative admission, provision of scholarship for female students, popularizing progressive female technicians and female trainees in the media.

UBITEB chairman Eng. Silver Mugisha hailed the reduced examination leakage, saying this was due to the Board's initiative of putting in place punitive clauses in the examination regulations.

"The board, therefore, did not register any reported leakage of examinations papers or any other malpractice," he said.