UBTEB registers decline in performance of candidates

KAMPALA, UGANDA: The Uganda Business and Technical Examinations Board-UBTEB has recorded a decline in the performance of candidates for the 2020 examinations cycle.

The decline was noted across five programmes that sat for examinations early this year. These include; Technical Advanced Craft, Technical National Certificate Programmes, Technical Community Polytechnic Programmes, Business Diploma programmes and Business Certificate Programmes.

According to the board, there was a three percent general decline in the performance of candidates for the different courses. The results released show that 75 percent of the candidates passed last year’s examinations compared to 78 percent in 2019.

For the business-related programmes, some of the worst performed modules were: Principles of Accounting, Element of Taxation, Economics and Business calculations. For technical programmes, applied mathematics and workshop technology posed challenges to candidates. Agriculture was however the best-done module with 90 percent of the candidates passing.

Onesmus Oyesigye, the Executive Secretary of the board says the research unit of the board is going to investigate the decline in performance.

Oyesigye however adds that some of the worst performed modules are hard and it is not surprising that the performance was poor.

A breakdown of the performance according to gender shows that overall, male candidates performed better than their female counterparts. The results show that 76 perfect of the males passed compared to the females with a 72 percent pass rate.

A total of 16,144 candidates registered to sit for the examinations but only 15,019 showed up. According to UBTEB, 7 percent of the registered candidates did not show up.

“1,125 candidates missed one or more modules and as such are marked as absentee candidates. There are various reasons for this absenteeism, but the most probable is the COVID-19 pandemic and failure of candidates to meet tuition fees,” Oyesigye said.

The examination body has also withheld the results of 17 candidates that are believed to have been involved in examination malpractice and cancelled results for 19 candidates that have been found guilty of malpractices.

John Chyrsostom Muyingo, the State Minister-in-charge of higher education expressed concern about the cases of examination malpractice. He urged the examination body to put up measures to ensure that such cases are not recorded again.

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URN