Uganda national examinations board, UNEB together with the Education and sports ministry has this morning released the 2017 Uganda certificate of education examination, at the office of the president in Kampala.
The results indicate a decline in performance of candidates as compared to 2016. The failure rate had increased from 1.3% in 2016 to 1.55 in 2017, according to UNEB Executive Secretary Dan Odongo.
Odongo further revealed that female candidates performed better than their male counterparts at all levels. The failure rate among female candidates is also lower at 0.7% that for the males at 1.5%.
Speaking on behalf of the Minister of education and sports Janet Kataha Museveni, the state minister for higher education John Muyingo thanked the examination board for releasing results on time.
She however noted the decline in Candidature as compared to 2016. The minister noted that this trend has been consistent since 2014. She however explains that this is because most candidates opt for nursing, teacher’s colleges and other technical schools which take UCE leavers.
“Candidature abseintism has declined and this is pleasing. Girls although fewer than boys have performed better males and this must be applauded. We would like to congratulate them for doing better” the minister noted.
She however showed concern that the numbers of students offering mathematics and sciences are very low. “Number of girls taking these subjects is very low, this would get better with encouragement from teachers and parents, even though we shouldn’t force children to do subjects they don’t like” said the minister.
Girls are as capable as boys to sit science subjects. Low entries in mathematics and sciences will affect the move to attain the middle income status.