Over 14000 students fail 2023 UCE examinations

Over 14000 students failed 2023 examinations, the just-released Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) results indicate. The UCE results were reported by Janet Museveni, the Minister of Education and Sports.

According to the results, 364,469 students sat for the 2023 examinations, compared to 349,459 in 2022. The candidates came from 3,808 examination centres. Of these candidates, 118,633 were USE beneficiaries. Of all the candidates, 180,471 were male and 183,998 were female.

In 2023, 361,695 candidates (179,032 males and 182,663 females) appeared for the examination, compared to 345,695 candidates who appeared for the examination in 2022.

According to Dan Odongo, the Executive Director of the Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB), 64,782 passed in division one, 85,566 in division two, 83,545 in division three, 112,923 in division four, and 14,879 failed.

“There is a significant improvement in the English language, religious education, mathematics, and biology. Noticeable drops were recorded in history, agriculture, and physics. In the English language, the presentation of crammed passages from texts in response to the question on original composition writing has greatly reduced, hence explaining the significant improvement in the candidate performance,” he said.

He said performance in the sciences continues to be a cause for concern, with less than 20 percent of the candidates obtaining credit pass levels in physics and chemistry and 40 percent or more unable to pass. It is worth noting, however, the upturn in performance in biology, which has been recording a steady decline.

“Examiners have attributed the low achievement levels in science subjects to a number of factors, the main among which are inadequate teaching, manifesting in the inability of the learners to master the basic scientific concepts; lack of practical teaching, manifesting in the learners’ inability to manipulate science apparatus, carry out the procedures prescribed in the examination papers, and interpret any readings or observations that could have been made. There are schools that have been reported to have no science teachers, which exacerbates the problem,” he said.

Odong said Cases of examination malpractice have continued to reduce. Most of the ones reported in this examination were external assistance given in the examination rooms, affecting mostly physics and chemistry practical examinations and mathematics. Affected schools whose results are withheld will be notified through their portals. They will also be notified of the dates of the hearings.