REGARDING UNEB RESULTS, WHAT NEEDS SERIOUS ADDRESS IS THE CHEATING AS MANY CHILDREN PROVE INCOMPETENT AFTER

UNEB has to work hard to remain relevant. A few years ago, students being admitted for Statistics were being told off if they were incompetent at Mathematics that they should not waste time registering though they had the points. Recently, the Faculty of Law at Makerere University clearly stated that entrants were to be subjected to examinations before being admitted. It not news that there is examination cheating, a case UNEB is aware of but looks like they are unable to handle it. UNEB needs to struggle to remain relevant other wise chnces are that all institutions will start admission exams.
William Kituuka Kiwanuka
UACE results indicate slight improvement in major subjects
By Richard Wanambwa

Posted Wednesday, February 29 2012 at 00:00

In Summary

Better. Candidates post better results although most shun science subjects.
The Uganda National Examination Board (Uneb) has released the 2011, Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE) results with a slight improvement in the general performance of major subjects compared to the 2010 academic year.

Uneb is the body that sets and marks national exams in the country.
A total of 103,760 candidates registered for UACE examinations from 1,334 centres as compared to 101,495 candidates from 1,240 centres in 2010. This indicates an increment of 2,265 or 2.2 per cent as presented by Uneb statistics.
In 2011, 102,296 candidates appeared for the examination compared to 99,904 in 2010.
Releasing the exams to the Education Minister, Ms Jessica Alupo in Kampala yesterday, Uneb Executive Secretary Matthew Bukenya said female registered candidates increased from 40,856 in 2010 to 42,341 in 2011 and the female comprised 40.8 per cent of the total number of candidates who sat last year’s examinations.
This figure is about the same as that of 2010 which was 40.9 per cent. The same year saw fewer female candidates about 1.1 per cent were absent compared to males 1.5 percent.
“The overall performance of candidates in the 2011 UACE examinations shows that a very high percentage of candidates 99.2 per cent qualify for a UACE award (certificate) while in 2010, this was 98.8 per cent” Mr Bukenya said.
The results also show an increment for the minimum entry of two principal passes for any student to join any tertiary institution as compared to 2010. For example, 65,417 students have qualified to join tertiary institutions from last year’s exams as compared 61,820 in 2010.
The female candidates performance is at par with the male candidates although, the female candidates have slightly lower failure rate than males at 0.6 percent as compared to 0.9 percent.
Last year’s exams also saw both female and male candidates’ performance tie in arts subjects while performance in Physics and Chemistry was comparable between the two genders.
“In terms of percentage, female candidates performed better than males at the A-E level in Entrepreneurship Education, Islamic Religious Education, Christian Religious Education, Geography, Literature in English and Biology while male candidates were better in History, Economics and Arts. Performances in Physics, and Chemistry is comparable between the two sexes.”

Best subjects
Uneb observed an improvement in performance of Entrepreneurship Education, Christian Religious Education, Literature in English, Mathematics, Agriculture, Physics and Chemistry. While History, Economics and Biology recorded drops in performance at the at A-E level although Biology recorded a slight improvement at the A pass level.
“Entries for Physics, Agriculture, Chemistry and Biology have actually dropped although slightly. In sciences, the problems were seen in graphical and data interpretation, manipulation of apparatus”
While Uneb withheld results of 68 candidates last year over suspected examination malpractice, this year the number has slightly grown.
Uneb announced that they had withheld results of more than 100 candidates for further investigations.
Most of these are from St. Theresa Girls SS-Bwanda, Najjembe Homeland SS Lugazi, and Mariam High School-Kampala, St. John College Mpigi and Brethren Memorial School-Matugga.
Ms Alupo welcomed the improvement in science-based subjects, saying the subjects form the foundation for scientific innovations as the country puts emphasis on industrialisation. She, however, reiterated preferences for science subjects by students.
“I must note, however, that the number of students offering Mathematics and science is quite low at only about 20 per cent of the total candidature. At this rate, the country stands the risk of missing science based development programmes,” Ms Alupo said.