Why star students fail to keep top grades?

EDUCATION     PERFORMANCE

KAMPALA - Analysis of the 2019 Uganda Certificate of Education(UCE) results show that many of the Primary Leaving Examination(PLE) stars did not make it among the top grades.

While 343 of the 2019 candidates scored aggregate four, the maximum points one can get in PLE, only seven obtained aggregate eight in O'level, the maximum score a candidate can get. Indeed 35 (10.2%) of the 2015 PLE stars did not pass in Division One in last year's O' level.

Nonetheless, the PLE stars put an impressive performance with about 90% passing in Division One - scoring between aggregate 8 and 32 in O' Level.  

There are also worst-performing cases of former top candidates in Primary at this level. There are 15 students who ended up with Aggregate 40 and above. One of the students got Aggregate 59.

It is rare for most parents to easily get placement for their children in traditional or private top schools, just because their children did not excel; with a Distinction in each subject.  But, excellence at one level of education, is not guarantee to automatic academic excellence at the next level of education.

Dr. Yusuf Nsubuga, the former director of basic and secondary education says what matters most; is having a child prepared well in the education process. Even students who had not excelled can make it at another level of education.

Don't stress, with hunting for schools which take only the best. There is so much at play, that helps students excel," he says.

The analysis, done by Mwalimu, considering the Primary Seven scores of candidates in 2015; shows that some of the students who excelled in national examinations did not necessarily excel at the Senior Four level.

There are also extreme cases of poor performance, where a pupil who had passed with Aggregate 4, four years later ended up passing with Aggregate 68.
 

 
More so, of the 696 pupils got Aggregate 5 in Primary Seven, 15.8% (110) failed to make it to Division One.
 
Nsubuga explains that some of those students who fail, when they are academic stars, "Could have fallen sick or lost a relative during an examination. There are so many factors, which could explain such factors of underperformance."

He, however, also explains that some of these students can also fail, "Just because they did not concentrate on their studies, or they were not taught well by their respective schools."
 

Students who turned into stars, from low performance

There are also some students who have not initially excelled in Primary Seven but turned out to be academic stars, four years later, in Senior Four national examinations.

Even students with slightly higher scores can excel. Wamala Abdul Junior joined Senior One with Aggregate 11 and got Aggregate 8 in eight at Bishop's SS Mukono.

Others with Aggregate 8 were Ramadhan Mawanda who joined St. Charles Lwanga High, Kashekuro with Aggregate 11; Walter Ocan joined BP. Cipriano SS, Muhammed Sseruwagi joined God's Way High School, and Peter Erikosi joined Kigumba Parents with Aggregate 9.

 

Why stars may not excel

Dr. Lawrence Muganga, researcher, educator, public policy practitioner, strategy advisor, development management Specialist; says, "Our teaching in schools is skewed."

"It is no surprise that students excel in one set of examinations and within just years, he or she cannot excel. We should just believe that our teaching is wrong and we are messing up an entire generation of children."

Dr. Muganga, who is also an award-winning writer and author, is an authentic learning enthusiast based in Edmonton, Alberta Canada.

He earned his MA in Economic Policy Management from Makerere University and a Ph.D. in Educational Administration and Leadership from the University of Alberta, Canada. He also holds a Higher Education Teaching Certification from Harvard University, Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning.

He argues that schools should embrace, what he terms as, "Authentic learning." It teaches the required soft skills that students can transfer from one situation to another.

He explains that if students are taught the right way, at Primary and the Secondary level of education, "This massive divide in scores should not arise."

"We can blame primary schools. But, the secondary schools also had a job to make this right. They also had the potential to help students learn better and excel; no matter how they had passed and whatever the methods they used to pass."

He says, "In Uganda, like other African countries, most teachers still use an instructive, or teacher-centered approach to lesson planning and delivery, forcing students to learn through the memorization of isolated facts. No wonder, when they fail to memorize, they fail."

He says, "This type of learning, which continues through all levels of education, leaves students unprepared for the twenty-first-century workforce. "

He says, "Uganda requires a centralized and systematic approach for revising its education system to promote authentic learning opportunities."

He explains, "Authentic learning is a branch of constructivism, a pedagogical approach that places the student at the center of the learning experience."

 This instructional model has undergone gradual adoption in first-world countries, with underdeveloped countries still struggling to implement a systematic approach for incorporating authentic learning in the classrooms.

Meanwhile, Peter Tusubira, a seasoned and retired teacher, who taught for about 30 years, says at times some children cheat their way to excellence. "At the next level, if they have not cheated, they fail to excel," he explains.

But he is quick to say, "Not all such cases should be considered to have cheated. At times, a child may fail to perform, depending on the system or modeling of his O'level or A'level school. Some schools' systems suffocate children and others allow them to think and excel. More so, the examinations could also have been complicated in a given year."

For Patrick Kaboyo, the National Secretary Federation of Non-State Education Institutions, he says that the assessment of examinations need to change and in the new curriculum, this is already being taken care of. "The current assessment focuses on memorizing content, and at times, a child may panic and fail to settle in an examination room."

Kaboyo, who is also an education consultant says, "In the new assessment plan for O'level, learners will be checked on their abilities of the head and the hands. This will be the perfect way to tell those who have excelled as bright students; other than those who spotted or crammed."

He hopes that the A'level curriculum when revised, it will also include the assessment of the learners' skills acquisition.

The former director of basic and secondary education Dr. Yusuf Nsubuga then asks, "So what happened to the hundreds of other students who got Aggregate Four, which so many schools are always excited about during admissions?"

The former commissioner for Government aided schools John Agaba says most schools want to avoid the hustle of doing what parents and Governments pay them to do. "Some schools are highly congested and never focus on individual students, explaining why come of the best students end up being average."

He also argues that it is the responsibility of schools to have students pass. "Private schools are now aggressively doing what Government schools should have been doing! Admit all kinds of students who passed, not necessarily those who excelled; and then help them excel. That is the role of a teacher." 

Benson Kule, a senior ministry official and chairperson of the selections committee, says the best way to get a good school nowadays, is to focus on the value addition of the learners.

"If a school admits a child of Aggregate 4 in Primary Seven and the child gets Aggregate 8 in S.4; he is not better than a school that admits a child with Aggregate 30 and ends up with Aggregate 8 in S.4."

"This analysis is good because it will help parents realise that at times, you do not have to chase a school for admission, just because their entry is high. Focus on comprehensive learning and teaching."

He says at times, some primary schools do not comprehensively teach students. "They just spot what will be set, and in a few occasions, this might help the pupils pass. But it will not guarantee their knowledge acquisition."

As a solution, Kule says it is important we focus on the implementation of the new O'level curriculum. "Students will holistically learn and understand, instead of memorizing to just pass exams and later fail to produce the same grades. Schools will also be able to impart better value addition in their teaching," he explained.

 "With the new curriculum, we expect to have a better of teaching and such situations will change in students' performance," he says.


Parents should not stress with placements

Most traditional schools and some private schools always set high entry points; but this analysis shows, there is no need to stress to get their students in such top schools.  Nsubuga says, "A child can excel in any other school if taught well."

"We have always seen academic stars, from less-known schools, from all over the country," he says.

King's College Budo is one of such schools, which parents scramble for when national examinations results are released.  The school receives about 1,500 applicants. However, only 13% (200 students) can be accommodated in one class of Senior One or Five; in any given year. 

About 32 male pupils who scored Aggregate Four missed out on placements at Budo and were sold out to other traditional but performing schools. The school maintained its cut off of last year at Aggregate 4 for boys and 5 for girls. This was the same with St. Mary's SS Kitende; which had the same tightened entry points. 

Other such schools with high entry points include Mt. St. Mary's SS Namugongo, St. Mary's College Kisubi, Namilyango College, Nabisunsa Girls Schools, and Gayaza High School.

But, parents do not have to stress so much.

Mwalimu analysis, basing on UNEB data shows that such students can easily go into O'level and excel at Senior Four national examinations.

A case in point; 83 students managed to get Aggregate 8 in eight subjects, being the very best in the country, but only six of them got Aggregate 4 at Primary Seven.  

Schools like Bishop's SS, Mukono, and St. Charles Lwanga High were bold enough to have students of Aggregate 11 at Primary Seven, who ended being among the best with Aggregate 8 at Senior Four. 

Other schools in this league include BP. Cipriano Kihangire and God's Way in Maganjo each admitted one student with Aggregate 10 at P.7and they ended up with a student having Aggregate 10 at S.4.

Some other schools like Kigumba Parents SS, in Kiryandongo, Mengo SS, Alliance High School also admitted pupils of Aggregate 9 at Primary Seven and managed to excel with Aggregate 8 at S.4. 

Among the public traditional schools which are very tight on admissions; there were only a handful that managed to help students excel with Aggregate 8 at Senior Four. Such schools include Budo College, Nabisunsa Girls' School, St. Mary's College Kisubi and Mt. St. Mary's SS Namagunga

The reality is that in that year of admission of the cohort that has just finished Senior Four, 343 pupils had scored Aggregate 4; and only six managed to score the maximum Aggregate 8 at Senior Four.