The Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) has released the 2022 Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE) examination results, indicating a drop in the number of candidates who sat the exams by almost 10% percent.

While releasing the results today in Kampala, the UNEB Executive Secretary, Dan Odongo, noted that females generally performed better compared to their male counterparts even when they were fewer compared to males.

Odongo added that 99.2% of the candidates passed and qualified for the award of the UACE certificate.

The UNEB Executive Secretary, Dan Odongo noted that although slightly fewer UACE candidates registered in 2022 compared to 2020, entries for mathematics and other science subjects, except physics, increased significantly.

He applauded girls for generally returning better results compared to boys, manifesting equal capabilities. He encouraged them to join colleges to get additional skills.

Odongo noted that absenteeism remains a big problem in the education sector which contributes to poor performance. He encouraged students who failed not to give up but try again.

Odongo noted that the performance of some candidates was undermined by misunderstanding questions, and the inability to describe, explain or offer logical arguments or specific examples to back their answers.   

Meanwhile, he appealed to students who practice bullying to stop the vice because schools should be safe places for learning.

The UNEB Board Chairperson, Prof. Mary Okwakol said that UNEB had partnered with Makerere University to investigate the cause of a decrease in the number of candidates who ultimately sit the UACE exams. A total of 96,557 candidates appeared for the exams compared to 97,443 in 2020, a decrease of 0.9%. Prof. Okwakol added that Ebola was a big risk during the exam period but no cases were recorded at the examination centers.

Prof. Okwakol, who is a scientist, was concerned that fewer girls were taking up science subjects. She also noted that Biology which had more entries in 2020 had again dropped.

The State Minister for Higher Education, John Chrysostom Muyingo, who represented the Minister of Education AND Sports, Janet Kataaha Museveni, presided over the release of the 2022 UACE results. He was also concerned that the rate of absenteeism had increased from the 2020 UACE by 0.4%.

Muyingo added that the government policy to promote sciences was on course by making sure all schools have laboratories. There are also plans to review the A’Level curriculum and SESEMAT program to empower science teachers.

Some of the districts that did not present UACE candidates include Terego and Nabilatuk while Abim and Buvuma had very few candidates and also recorded high rates of absenteeism. A total of 1,259,209 young people completed PLE, UCE, and UACE in 2022.