KAMPALA – Selection for entry into senior five is set for February 13th and 14th announced Education Minister, Janet Museveni, during the release of the 2019 Uganda Certificate of Examinations (UCE) results at Office of the President Auditorium in Kampala.
“Please note that the dates earmarked for the Senior Five Selection Exercise are 13th – 14th February 2020 at the UMA Show Grounds – Lugogo,” Mrs. Museveni who presided over the examinations release ceremony said.
The first term for continuing students opens Monday, February 2, while the date to report for Senior Five students whose results were released today has not been announced.
No projections have been given on the likely senior five admission cut-off points for various secondary schools.
Reports have also indicated that for the first time, more girls than boys registered and sat for the UCE, a development the Education Minister said is something to be happy about.
“In PLE more girls sat compared to boys. Now in the UCE 2019 exams, the same thing has happened. I was happy to note that 50.5% of the Makerere Graduates this years were female,” she noted.
Mrs. Museveni, however, said just because “we acknowledge more girls sitting for exams doesn’t mean that we want the boys to fail.”
“We want the ideal 50-50. We celebrate the girls because they have overcome ideas that limit them.”
Mrs. Museveni has advised students who did not make it to the next level to try again and implored parents to encourage them.
Females have performed better than Males in the English language Dan Odong, UNEB Executive Secretary saying that this has always happened over the years, the boys managed to make their way around in other subjects and beat the girls.
He expressed great concern about the low achievement levels of girls in science and mathematics subjects saying his administration wants an investigation into this.
Meanwhile, overall performance improved with 92.2% passing compared to 87.2% in the previous years while the failure rate dropped significantly from 12.8% to 7.8%.