Kalema Lawrence
The Minister of Education and Sports, Janet Kataha Museveni has officially released the 2018 results of the Uganda Certificate of Examinations (UCE) today (Thursday 31st 2019) afternoon at Statistics house in Kampala.
According to the Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) chairperson prof. Mary Okwakol, the UCE process went on smoothly. The candidature in 2018 increased from 0.9% in 2019 to 3.3% in 2018 with a total of 336,740 candidates having registered in 3,658 centers, higher tha that of 2017 by 10,528. The number of the boys that registered stood at 169984 while girls were 166756.
As usual, the male students continued to dominate their female counterparts in performance though at subject level, girls did better in English language as they have consistently done over the years.
There was a general improvement i the subjects of English, Islamic and Physics while Chemistry was the worst done subject.
Over 42,334 fail 2018 UCE examinations.
Exam Malpractice
As expected, there have been also cases of examination malpractices that has led to results of 4,525 candidates being withheld from 47 different schools. 90% of withheld exams are from the science field especially practicals.
UNEB reports that of the 4,525 candidates’ results withheld, 1,977 were cleared and had their results released while results of 2,548 candidates were cancelled. Some of centres with withheld results Gonna SS (Luuka) – 129 students, Nyankwanzi H/S (Kyenjojo) – 110, Bufulubi SS (Mayuge) – 81, Hereigns SS – 80, Uganda Martyrs HS Rubaga – 75 among others.
Differed Grading Reports
On allegations of selective grading and under marking by Uneb, Prof Okwakol also said that UNEB does not use a grading system that takes advantage of any category of schools in any part of the country. This was later backed up by the Minister of Education for Higher Institutions Muyingo who denied the reports that Kampala schools are under marked by UNEB.
Janet Museveni also added on that it’s frustrating to hear that people that should know better are the ones inciting the population and making wild allegations, insisting that such a policy doesn’t exist & lacks logic. She then urgued parents to endeavour to play their role in the education journey of their children noting that teachers teach theoretically and candidates go into examination rooms without confidence.
Accessing the UCE results
The simplest way to access the results of the 2018 UCE examinations still stands at using any mobile phone by simply typing UCE, leave space INDEX NUMBER and send to 6600 on either MTN or Airtel mobile carriers. For instance UCE U90518/002 and send to 6600. Each message costs 500 Ug Shs.
However, UNEB has revealed that the Students who owed school dues will not be able to access their results via the mobile phone application. These results will only be available at their schools but not on phone.
