The Uganda Certificate of Education examination results from the first cohort of candidates under the new Competency-Based Curriculum are out.
The results were released by the Minister of Education and Sports, Janet Museveni, in which 98.05 percent of the 359,417 students passed the exams and qualified for a UCE Certificate.However, there is no comparison between the 2024 and 2023 performance since the system is completely different.
In 2020, the Minister rolled out the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) for the Lower secondary school level presenting a requirement for assessment reforms in which in turn introduced a new component of Continuous Assessment and Project Work on top of the existing end of cycle examination, a major shift in the education system that assesses the learner’s competency.
Therefore, under this assessment system, there is no ranking of candidates into Divisions as in the previous curriculum, while distinctions, credits and passes will also not feature.
The new assessment comes with a change in the reporting and certification; the Uganda National Examinations Board and the National Curriculum Development Centre devised a new reporting mechanism
Instead, a candidate’s performance in a subject is shown by one of the letters: A, B, C, D and E.
“A” = Exceptional Performance, where a candidate has demonstrated an “extraordinary level of competency by applying innovatively and creatively the acquired knowledge and skills in real life situations”.
“B”=Outstanding Performance shows that a learner has demonstrated a high level of competency by applyingthe acquired knowledge and skills in real life situations”.
“C”= Satisfactory Performance and demonstrated “adequate levels of competency by applying the acquired knowledge and skills in real life situations”.
“D”=Basic Achievement and demonstrates “a minimum level of competency by the learner in applying the acquired knowledge and skills in real life situations “.
“E”=Elementary Performance demonstrates that the learner has achieved “less than the basic level of competency in applying the acquired knowledge and skills in real life situations “.
So, the difference in performances is shown in the descriptive words: exceptional, outstanding, adequate, basic and elementary.
According to UNEB, a candidate will qualify for the UCE certificate if he or she obtains a competency level grade of D in at least one subject sat at the 2024 UCE exams.
The overall results show that 350,146 (98.05 percent) of the candidates who sat qualified for the UCE certificate. This is indicated on the Transcript and Certificate of the learner as “Result 1”.
The candidates who did not fulfil the conditions for the award of the UCE certificate has “Result 2” indicated on their transcripts.
These are candidates who did not sit for some compulsory subjects, or did not sit for a minimum of eight subjects, or who have no Project Work scores.
A candidate who has at least a “D” qualifies for a UCE Certificate even if the rest of the papers at retuned “E”, because he or she has a basic competency in at least one subject.
Result 3 is indicated on the transcript of a candidate who has not met the minimum level in all the subjects; i.e. if the candidate has achieved only with level “E” in all subjects taken.
Candidates with Result 2 and 3 respectively shown on their Transcripts do not qualify for a UCE certificate.
“The achievement level for each subject is derived from scores generated from the assessment of competencies at the school level; that is, through Continuous Assessment (CA), and the scores from competencies assessed in the final End of Cycle examination,” as said by Dan Odong, the Executive Secretary, UNEB.
This result reporting system will also reduce the level of competition for learners amongst schools that arises from schools posting their best grades.