the rate of failure in the 2022 UCE exams have reduced, according to results released by the Uganda National Examination Board- Uneb.
According to the results released on Thursday by the Uneb Executive Secretary Dan Odongo, there has been a one percentage point drop in failure rates from 18,415 in 2020 to 15,756 presenting 5.6 percent and 4.6 percent respectively.
The results also indicate that there were more candidates sitting UCE in 2022 than in 2020 by 16063 representing a 4.8 percentage increase.
In 2022, there were 349459 as compared to 333396 candidates. The results also show that boys performed better than girls overall.
According to the results, there were 46,667 candidates passing in grade one compared to 39,968 in 2020.
On the other hand, 76,745 representing 22.2 percent passed in grade two as compared to 69,782 [21.2%] in 2020.
88,690 [25.7%] candidates passed in grade three compared to 81428 [24.7] in 2020 while 117,837 [34] passed in grade four compared 120,055 [36.4] in 2020.
There is an improvement in performance in the large entry subjects except in Christian Religious Education, Biology and Commerce.
Mathematics showed better performance at the Distinction level, but declined overall.
English Language improved at credit and overall Pass levels, but declined at the distinction level.
However, the results also show that there was overall poor performance in all the science subjects although biology and chemistry registered the worst performance with 40 percent of the candidates failing to get even pass eight.
Odongo attributed this to schools concentrating on the theory and neglecting the practical aspects of the subject.
In last year’s exams, for the first time, Uneb examined Chinese Language and out of 134 candidates who registered 124 [92.5%] of them passed.
Chinese joins languages such as; French, German, Arabic, Latin and Kiswahili to be examined.
The results also show that female candidates performed better than males in English Language while the males performed better in science subjects.
Uneb also once again attributed the failure overall to lack of command in the English language in which most of the exams are set.
Meanwhile, Uneb also said there was a reduction in examination malpractice due to the strict measures in place.
However, there were cases of malpractice especially in subjects such as; Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics, with; external assistance, collusion among candidates, impersonation and script substitution as the common cases.
These malpractices resulted into the withholding of examination results of 1,035 candidates.
