Kalema Lawrence
The Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) has officially released the 2017 Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE) results today.
According to the UNEB chaiperson, Prof Mary Okwakol, the candidature reduced by 2.9% as compared to the previous years and there must be a possibility that female students took up vocational studies in preference to the UACE level.
Girls constituted 41.4% (41,932) of the candidates who sat for the exams. A total of 101,269 candidates registered for UACE in 2017 examination as compared to 104,243 in 2016 which is a decrease of 2,974 candidates.
Performance
Unlike the first two batches of UNEB Results released earlier this year where Boys outwitted Girls in the overall performace, This time Females performed better than males. Girls had the a higher number of candidates scoring 3 principle passes. The failure rate among females was lower at 0.7% than that of the males at 1.5%.
There has been an improvement in Science subjects like Physics and Biology though a drop in overall performance was realized at principal level.
“We note improvements in Physics and biology at subject level but a drop of performance at principal level, Entry figures continue to show that overwhelmingly number of candidates are opting for humanity subjects” Said Mary Okwakol.
98.5% of 101,269 candidates qualified for the award of UACE, including candidates who obtained at least one subsidiary level pass in a subject at principal level. However, the number of candidates with three principal passes reduced by 4%, to 34,819 from 39,797 in 2016
Only 22.8% of the candidates who sat for the UACE examinations offered mathematics, down from 31.3% the previous year. Despite that Maths, Physics, Chemistry and Biology are compulsory at UCE level, there is still a worry by UNEB that the number of candidates opting for them at UACE is still very low.
English language affected the performance of Science subjects, as seen in their inability to follow instructions, while carrying out practical tests
Malpractices
It was revealed that cases of malpractice at the 2017 UACE level were quite low. Only results of 79 candidates from 24 centres have been withheld over malpractice. Okwakol said that these were seeking for assistance during the examinations, among other reasons.
Accessing the 2017 UACE Results
Results of individual candidates are available through SMS. Just hit the Message Menu and type UACE, leave a space, type correct index number and send to 6600. This Service is available on MTN and AIRTEL networks.
You can also access them via internet by visiting https://ereg.uneb.ac.ug/results #UACE2017
Hard copies of the results and result slips will be available at UNEB offices in Ntinda from 2pm today, 21st February 2018.
