KAMPALA, Febraury 11, 2025 –– The just-released 2024 Uganda Certificate of Education [UCE] results indicate that 350,146 candidates qualified to be awarded a certificate that will push them to the next level of education.
According to Dan Odongo, the Executive Director of the Uganda National Examinations Board [UNEB], a total of 359,417 candidates were registered as the first cohort under the Competency-Based Curriculum [CBC]. Of these, 177,133 were males, while 182,284 were females.
Additionally, 136,785 candidates were beneficiaries of the Universal Secondary Education [USE] programme, while 222,632 were non-USE candidates.
A total of 357,120 candidates sat for the examinations, with only 2,297 marked absent, with Odongo noting that the rate of absenteeism from the exams continues to decline.
CBC is a learner-centered approach that focuses on equipping students with the skills and competencies needed in today’s society. Introduced in February 2020, it replaces the traditional grading system with achievement levels represented by letter grades: A, B, C, D, and E. These grades are derived from both Continuous Assessment [CA] conducted at the school level and scores from the final End-of-Cycle examination.
Unlike the previous curriculum, the CBC does not rank candidates into divisions. A candidate qualifies for the UCE certificate if they obtain at least a grade D in one subject.
“The overall results show that 350,146 [98.05 percent] of the candidates who sat qualified for the UCE certificate. This will be indicated on their transcripts and certificates as Result One. Candidates who did not fulfill the conditions for the award of the UCE certificate will have Result Two indicated on their transcripts. These are candidates who either missed some compulsory subjects, did not sit for a minimum of eight subjects, or lacked Project Work scores,” Odongo explained.
He added that Result Three will appear on the transcript of candidates who did not meet the minimum achievement level in all subjects, meaning they obtained only grade E across all subjects taken.
Performance Highlights
The results released in Kampala by the First Lady and Minister of Education and Sports, Janet Kataaha Museveni, revealed exceptional performance in subjects such as Art and Design, History and Political Education, Agriculture, and Mathematics. However, a significant proportion of candidates performed below the basic level in Physics, followed by Chemistry and English Language.
According to reports from examiners, many candidates struggled with Science practical assessments. They found it difficult to interpret scenarios, connect them to real-life situations, and draw meaningful conclusions from experiments. Candidates who lacked proper guidance relied on recall rather than critical thinking when responding to practical questions.
In English and other foreign languages, common challenges included limited vocabulary, difficulty in paraphrasing summaries, and the use of inappropriate examples in comprehension and literature analysis. However, in languages that included a speaking component, candidates demonstrated a fair understanding of given scenarios and responded reasonably well.
Key challenges in the CBC
A recurring issue across all subjects was the difficulty candidates faced in linking scenarios to real-life problem-solving a core competency in the CBC. This underscores the need for teachers to provide more guidance to students in developing this critical skill.
https://thecooperator.news/hoima-and-kikuube-schools-celebrate-impressive-performance-in-2024-ple/
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