There was a slight improvement in the performance of mathematics in last year’s Uganda Advanced Certificate of Examinations –UACE compared to 2018.
According to the results issued Thursday morning, 2639 out of 31729 students (8.3 percent) scored A compared to 2034 (6.8%) out of 29915 candidates last year.
Chemistry came second with 419 (2.5%) candidates out 16772 registering A. This is a decline from last year’s 468 candidates out of 15148 who passed with A.
History came third with 889 (2.3%) of the 38686 candidates that sat for the subject getting A.
A total of 104476 candidates registered for the examinations but 103429 candidates showed up. However, the number of students that sat for science subjects is still low.
Speaking at the release of the results, the UNEB Executive Secretary, Dan N. Odongo explained that only 30% of the candidates offered mathematics, about 10% offered physics, Chemistry had 16.2% and biology 14.0%.
The UNEB Chairperson Professor, Mary Akwol, said only 10 percent of the candidates sat for science exams. She also noted that although science registered more As, they were also the worst performed subject.
The poor low uptake and poor performance of science subjects is a persistent scenario that Akwol, says needs to be addressed.
According to Odongo, Biology was the worst performed subject something UNEB party blames on the limited or no exposure of candidates to practical lessons.
He says there is evidence of teaching theoretically with very little practicals given to candidates.
He says that candidates who performed poorly showed an inability to follow instructions and procedures during practical examinations, failure to accurately record data or even make meaning of any data recorded.
Odongo also says that in many centers, performance indicated inadequate syllabus coverage.
The quality of work also showed poor concentration of candidates for examinations, something Odongo says has been persistent. Teachers rush through the syllabus just to complete and start revision.
Girls beat boys
Last year’s PLE and UCE exams had the boys beat the girls. For UACE, however, the tables turned. Proportionally, female candidates, although fewer, did better than their male counterparts at all levels.
“The failure rate among female candidates was also lower (0.9%) than for the males (1.7%),” said Odongo, who added that the trend was similar to that of 2018 and 2017.
In terms of percentages, the girls performed better than the boys at the principal level pass, which is A-E, in the humanities (arts), Mathematics, Physics and Agriculture.
The male candidates, though, were better in Chemistry, Biology, Art and General Paper.
Meanwhile, last year, only 30.7% of the candidates who sat for UACE offered Mathematics, 10.9% did Physics, 16.2% took Chemistry and 14% offered Biology.
Remember that these four subjects are compulsory at O’Level.