Kampala, (UG):- The Minister of Education and Sports, First Lady Hon Janet K Museveni Tuesday released the official results for candidates who sat for the Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) examinations under both the new and old/transitional curriculum for the year 2024.
The 2024 UCE also marked a significant change in the grading system of candidates’ performance that came with the new lower secondary curriculum, shifting from the previous stanine system (1 to 9) categorized as Distinctions, Credits, Pass, and Fail; to a new letter grading system: A, B, C, D, and E.
While speaking at the release of the results at Nakasero State House, Mr Dan Odongo, the Executive Director of the Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) revealed that a total of 359,417 candidates were registered as the first cohort for the examination.
Of these, 177,133 (49-3%) were males, while 182,284 (50.7%) were females. 136,785 (38.1%) were beneficiaries of the USE programme, and 222,632 (61.9%) as non-USE.
Additionally, a total of 357,120 (99.4%) candidates were present for the examination. Of these, only 2,297 (0.6%) were absent, posing a significant drop in the rate of absenteeism.
𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟒 𝐔𝐂𝐄 𝐂𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐒𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲
— Government of Uganda (@GovUganda) February 11, 2025
Total Candidates: 359,417 (First cohort under new system)Gender Breakdown:
177,133 (49.3%) Male
Performance under the new curriculum
According to Mr Odongo, the overall results showed that 350,146 candidates assessed under the new curriculum passed and qualified for certificates, returning the percentage passing rate at 98%.
In terms of general performance, Odongo explained that a higher percentage of candidates demonstrated a high level of competence in all major subjects, with English standing out as the best-done subject where 97.4 per cent of candidates achieved grades A to D, while 3.6 per cent are under grade E.
In Mathematics, 97.2 per cent of candidates earned grades A to D, with 2.8 percent scoring grade E, considered elementary. In Chemistry, 93.9 per cent of candidates passed with grades A to D, and 6.1 per cent received grade E.
Mr Odongo, however, noted exceptional achievements evident in subjects such as Art and Design, History and Political Education, Agriculture, and Mathematics.
UCE Performance under Old Curriculum
For the old/transitional curriculum, the Board announced that at least 8,113 out of the 9,742 candidates who sat for these examinations passed and qualified for the O’level UCE Certificate, while 1,629 candidates failed the examinations and were not graded.
According to the released results, 80 of these [transitional] passed in division one; 503 in division two; 1,710 in division three and 5,820 in division four. 400 of these, did not avail themselves for these examinations.
In terms of gender, male candidates performed slightly better than their female counterparts, as has always been the norm in the previous set of results released by the Board over the years.
2024 UCE: Reduced Malpractice
ED Odongo also noted that there were few cases of malpractice, especially external assistance and impersonation. “There are 64 cases with a total of 984 candidates suspected, compared to nearly 3,000 suspected last year. The nature of the items in the papers do not lend themselves to malpractice,” Mr Odongo stated, adding that such cases were mostly reported in the science practical papers.
“Of the cases, 883 (93.1%) are in the Sciences, and only 65 (6.9%) in the rest of the other subjects. In these Science cases, there is overwhelming evidence that the candidates were given experimental results by teachers merely to copy. The work done by the candidates do not relate to results recorded,” he said.
How prison inmates performed
At the UgandaPrisons School, Luzira, a total of 27 out of the 28 candidates registered for the 2024 UCE sat for the examinations and all of them qualified for the UCE certificate.
At Mbarara Main Prison Inmates’ Secondary School, 11 candidates were registered and they all sat for the examination. All of them also qualified for the UCE certificate.
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