2023 UACE: 'Our system must empower girls to realize full potential'

Live reporting by Joseph Kizza
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 1:20 PM 

And it's a wrap!

Leaving you with this photo of Police spokesperson Fred Enanga having a chat with former UNEB chairperson Mary Okwakol at the end of today's function.

And the links to the other exam releases for 2023 exams:

▪️  First Lady releases 2023 PLE results

▪️  2023 UCE exam results released
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 1:18 PM 

📝 Accessing results via SMS

▪️  Type UACE [space] and then full student index number
▪️ Send to 6600

See details below on this poster posted by UNEB on its X platform: 👇🏽

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 12:43 PM 

Minister releases 2023 UACE exam results

Mrs Museveni concludes by saying:

"I congratulate the board and the staff of UNEB on yet another outstanding performance. I am also grateful to all our teams and stakeholders who have worked tirelessly to ensure the success of the entire 2023 examination period.

She then officially releases the 2023 UACE exam results, holding up the document.

"To the pride of UNEB and the Ministry of Education and Sports, to our God, all glory and honour. Thank you."

WATCH 👇🏽


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 12:40 PM 

'There is always another opportunity'

On the other platforms for learning and skilling, the education minister urges learners to, aside from universities, take advantage of the "many equally rewarding opportunities in other tertiary institutions such as technical training colleges and health training institutions".

"I encourage those of you who have not performed to your expectations not to despair again or give up. There is always another opportunity, so please keep yourselves safe and healthy so that you can pursue alternate possibilities."
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 12:39 PM 

'One-off exam'

On the UCE transitional examination, the minister says: "Please note that the government will support those learners who had been under the [Universal Secondary Education] USE programme."

"Also to be noted further is that this is a one-off examination, meaning that it will not be done again."
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 12:38 PM 

'Girls need empowering to realize full potential'

The First Lady says she is once again pleased with the girls' performance.

"This demonstrates that girls have potential but gender stereotypes most likely prevent them from realizing their abilities.

"Therefore, our system must figure out ways of enabling and empowering the girls to realize their full potential."

WATCH  👇🏽


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 12:36 PM 

'We need to see more commitment from our teachers'

Mrs Museveni also touches on the improvement in biology at UACE as well as the marked rise in principal passes at this level.

"This is commendable. In the past, this important science subject [biology] had not been done well for whatever reasons. My hope is that by addressing the areas of concern that UNEB publishes annually, this improvement will be sustained.

"It is now my hope and prayer that the headteachers and teachers take seriously the feedback from UNEB. In order to sustain these gains, we need to see more commitment from our teachers. Please be there for your learners and ensure you provide them with both the theory and the practical skills they need to learn."

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 12:33 PM 

'At least we are moving'

"Although we are not where we want to be exactly, at least we are moving and we pray that we will get to where want to be," says the education minister, pointing to the noted improvement in maths and science disciplines.

"This is a positive development because, as I stated previously, having more learners taking sciences at this level (UACE) will provide the desired pool of candidates to take science-based courses at the university and tertiary levels.

"Without prejudice to other disciplines, it should be appreciated that science and mathematics are crucial in propelling development in industry, medicine and related fields as Mr Odongo reported."

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 12:30 PM 

'This is the way it ought to be'

The First Lady is pleased to note that "the inexplicable decline in candidature, which we have been observing before has been reversed with a very significant increase of over 12,000 candidates in 2023".

"This is the way it ought to be since we are witnessing a steady increase in candidature at the lower levels, which should translate into an increase at this level also," she says.

WATCH  👇🏽


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 12:27 PM 

Higher education state minister John Chrysestom Muyingo is the person to invite the First Lady and education minister to deliver her remarks.

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 12:25 PM 

UNEB hands over results to minister

Here is the moment (in pictures) when the UNEB top officials handed over the 2023 UACE exam results to the First Lady and Minister of Education and Sports, Janet Museveni, for official release.

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 12:20 PM 

Quality of work improves

This time around, examiners reported improvement in the quality of candidates' work, with higher mean scores in many subject areas where performance has been reported to have improved," says Odongo.

In Biology, for instance, performance has improved compared to past years.

"The core science subjects continue to show lower than desired principal performance levels. The factors responsible for this state of affairs have been reported by UNEB during earlier releases of UACE results," says the UNEB ED.

They include teaching theoretically, with candidates lacking in practical skills to perform experiments, record and interpret their results.

"Questions based on practical experience posed problems as a result."

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 12:15 PM 

All 34 inmates pass

In his opening remarks, UNEB secretary Obua said earlier that all the 2023 UACE candidates who sat from behind bars at the Luzira Upper Prison examination centre passed.

Executive director Odongo provides some details on that.

He says 34 inmates registered to sit the exam (30 males and four females). Eventually, all of the 34 candidates qualified for the award of the UACE certificate.
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 12:13 PM 

Maths shows 'greatest promise'

Odongo says that the numbers of candidates registering and appearing for mathematics and the sciences are gradually increasing, with mathematics showing "the greatest promise". 

But with that said, overall, the numbers have remained well below half of the
total candidature. 

And why is that?

"This is consistent with the fact that pass rates in these subjects in the Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) examination have also been low, impacting transition to UACE," explains Odongo.
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 12:08 PM 

Girls fewer but better

Reiterating what UNEB secretary Obua said earlier, Odongo says the female candidates may have been fewer in number, but they performed better than their male counterparts did.

"The percentage passes at the uppper levels (3P and 2P) are higher, while percentage passes at the lower levels and failure rate among female canidates are lower than for the males," he says.

It is a trend that has been observed in the last three years.

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 11:55 AM 

Better overall performance

"An analysis of the overall candidates' performace in last year's exam shows that a very high percentage of candidates (99.1%) qualified for the award of the UACE, just as was in 2022," says Odongo.

Under the current regulations, a candidate requires a subsidiary level pass in a principal level subject to qualify.

University admissions to degree courses have, up to date, been considering two principal level passes as the minimum requirement.

"If this minimum consideration is maintained, 80,643 (73.7%) qualify to be admitted, compared to 67,815 (70.3%) in 2022. This is consistent with the fact that there was better overall performance and a significant increase in entries for the examination in 2023.

"In admission to other tertiary institutions, 90.7% of the candidates will qualify. This is better when compared to 2022 with 89.3%," adds the UNEB executive director.
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 11:55 AM 

12.9% increase in candidature

Dan Nokrach Odongo, UNEB executive director, delivers release statement.

He says that a total of 110,553 candidates registered for the 2023 UACE examination from 2,102 centres. That is compared to 97,890 candidates from 1,969 centres in 2022.

"This is an increase of 12,663 candidates (12.9%)."

Of these, Odongo says 47,226 (42.7%) were females and 63,339 (57.3%) were males. Candidates who appeared for the examination were 109,488, compared to 96,557 in 2022, an increase of 12,931 candidates (13.4%).

Of these, 46,860 (42.8%) were females and 62,628 (57.2%) were males.

"At this level, the number of female candidates has consistently been much lower than that of the males," says the UNEB ED.

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 11:50 AM 

Obua congratulates all those who have performed well and urges "those who feel a little disappointed with their results, I encourage seizing the many other opportunities to progress that are out there".

He also thanks all the UNEB staff for their efforts seen and especially unseen.
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 11:43 AM 

On transitional UCE exams

On the transitional UCE examination approved by the education minister, Obua says this exam has been moved from the original period of June-July 2024 to October-November 2024. This was done to allow the would-be beneficiaries enough time to find registration centres.

"It will now run alongside the 2024 UCE examination. The registration period will also be the same as that for the 2024 examination," says Obua.
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 11:42 AM 

'Very few results will be withheld'

We also learn that the 2023 UACE examination had the least number of examination malpractice compared to the PLE and UCE examinations.

"As such, very few results will be withheld," says UNEB's chair.

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 11:40 AM 

All Luzira inmates pass

All candidates who sat the UACE from Luzira Prison passed, says Obua, "a testament to the efforts they have made to change for the better".
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 11:37 AM 

'Females perform better than males'

The performance of candidates has improved, especially at the upper level of candidates obtaining three principal passes, says the UNEB chairperson.

"We notice that once again, female candidates have performed better proportionally than the males at all levels and have shown a lower failure rate," he says.

"Even at individual subject levels, they [females] have shown a better performance."

But Obua is keen to note that they have continued to see "a low percentage of the female candidates at this level [UACE] offering mathematics and science combinations".

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 11:32 AM 

'Significant increase in candidature'

The theme for this release is: 'Repositioning assessment and qualifications for placement and employability'.

Uganda National Examination Board (UNEB) chairperson Prof. Celestino Obua is invited to deliver his opening remarks. He says the examination was "successfully" conducted between November 13 and December 1 last year.

This exam means that UNEB has assessed for examination a total of 1,208,350 candidates for the three examinations (PLE, UCE and UACE).

"The board is happy to report that whereas an unexplained reduction had been noticed in the candidature for the last few years, in the 2023, there has been a very significant increase," says Obua.

"The number of candidates who did not report to take the examination reduced.

"The board notes that entries for sciences at the UACE continued to be lower than for humanities. It is gratifying though that the numbers are going up," he says.
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 11:27 AM 

 BREAKING NEWS 

Release of 2023 UACE exam results under way

The function begins with the anthems (national and East African), followed by a prayer at State House, Nakasero in Kampala.

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 11:20 AM 

Flashback: On revising A'Level curriculum

During the release of the 2023 UCE exam results, the education minister said they had started on the process of revising the A'Level curriculem. "However, we later decided to slow down the pace and instead focus our attention, efforts and resources on consolidating the implementation of the revised lower secondary curriculum."

"Since the 2019/2020 financial year to 2022/2023 alone, the government has invested at least sh130 billion in the development and rollout of the revised lower secondary curriculum," she said.

"This excludes the initial funding injected in the earlier stages prior to 2019/2020 financial year.

"We still are in need of more resources to ensure that our schools are well acquainted with what it takes to implement the lower secondary curriculum the way it was designed to be implemented.

"Therefore, we believe that it is not wise to embark on another rigorous venture with full view of the O'Level curriculum in the environment of limited resources across the government.

"We cannot afford at this time to withdraw resources from the implementation of the newly introduced revised lower secondary curriculum. Doing that shall completely mess up both the new and the old."
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 11:05 AM 

🗓️ S5 term one begins March 11

Meanwhile, the first term for the fresh A'Level students (Senior Five) will begin this coming Monday (March 11), following the successful completion of the selection exercise in late February.

Last year's UCE (O'Level) exam results were released on February 15, with the First Lady telling those who did not perform well that a chance to repeat had been offered, adding that there is also "time to seize the other opportunities that are available to acquire skills for life."

"I would like to encourage all eligible persons who wish to repeat UCE under the old lower secondary curriculum to take this single window of opportunity in 2024 and register for UCE once UNEB makes that announcement," said Mrs Museveni three weeks ago.

"I want to make it categorically clear that the 2024 UCE exams will be based on the new lower secondary competency-based curriculum.

"Learners who are repeating UCE under the old lower secondary curriculum shall  not be subjected to the assessment and examination processes of the revised lower secondary curriculum and the UCE certificates shall clearly show this distinction."

For clarity, this means that if you repeat Senior Four under the old curriculum, your certificate will indicate 2023 and not 2024 because the curriculum is different.

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 11:00 AM 

D-day!

Hello and welcome to our live text commentary of today's release of the results of the 2023 Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE) examination on this warm and bright Thursday here in Uganda's capital Kampala.

The latest cohort of secondary school leavers — who are in their vacation now — will be hoping that the fruits of their labour will show today once the First Lady and Minister of Education and Sports releases the 2023 UACE exam results at State House, Nakasero.

All the best everyone!