Boys fall to girls as UACE performance improves
The Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) Executive Director Dan Odongo has revealed that female candidates performed better than their male counterparts in the 2023 Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE).
He made the revelation while releasing the UACE results on March 7, 2024, at State House Uganda.
A total of 110,553 candidates registered for the 2023 UACE examination from 2,102 centres compared to 97,890 candidates from 1,969 centres in 2022. This is an increase of 12,663 candidates (12.9%).
The gender distribution among candidates showed 42.7% females and 57.3% males, indicating a slightly higher male enrollment. Candidates who appeared for the examination were 109,488, compared to 96,557 in 2022. Of these, 46,860 (42.8%) were females and 62,628 (57.2%) were males.
Despite the lower number of female candidates, the performance indicators revealed that proportionally, females outperformed their male counterparts, particularly in upper-level passes.
“The percentage passes at the upper levels (3P and 2P) are higher, while the percentage passes at the lower levels and failure rate among female candidates is lower than for the males. This has been the observed trend in the last three years,” he noted.
Odongo however highlighted that overall; the numbers have remained well below half of the total candidature.
“This is consistent with the fact that pass rates in these subjects in the Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) examination have also been low, impacting transition to UACE.”
In terms of subject performance, Mathematics and the Sciences witnessed a gradual increase in candidate enrollment, with Mathematics showing the most promising growth trajectory. However, overall enrollment in these subjects remained below half of the total candidature, reflecting persistently low pass rates in the Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) examinations.
The total number of special needs candidates was 358 as compared to 222 in 2022. The pass rate among the special needs candidates was 92.7% compared to 99.1% of the other candidates. Three candidates (one male and two females) did not appear for the examination.
There was an increase in the percentage of candidates qualifying for university admission, reaching 73.7% compared to 70.3% in the previous year. This uptick in university qualifications is attributed to better overall performance and a significant increase in examination entries in 2023.
“This is consistent with the fact that there was better overall performance and a significant increase in entries for the examination in 2023. In cases where one Principal and two Subsidiary pass levels are considered for admission to other tertiary institutions, 90.7%% of the candidates will qualify. This is better when compared to 2022 with 89.3%,” Odongo said.
Janet Museveni, the First Lady also Minister of Education and Sports reiterated the need to focus on improving performance in science subjects.
“Without prejudice to other disciplines, it should be appreciated that Science and Mathematics, are crucial in propelling development in industry, medicine and related fields. As I stated previously, having more learners offering Sciences at this level will provide the desired pool of candidates, to offer science-based courses at the University and Tertiary levels,” Mrs. Museveni said.
