Girls outperform Boys in UACE

Girls registered a better performance than boys in the 2017 Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE) results released by Uganda National Examination Board (UNEB) today.

A total of 101,269 candidates sat for the examination from 1918 examination centres. 41,521 were girls representing 41.4 percent while 58,461 were boys representing 59.6 percent.

A total of 16,213 girls representing 39 percent of the total number of female candidates scored three principle passes compared to 18,606 boys representing 31.8 percent who scored three principles passes.

At least 11,358 girls representing 27.4 percent scored two principle passes compared to 14,764 boys or 25.3 percent who scored two principle passes. When added, 27,571 girls representing 66.4 percent scored two principle passes and above compared to 33,370 boys representing 57.1 percent who were at the same level.

A total of 1,141 candidates, representing 1.5 percent of candidates, failed meaning that they will not receive UACE certificates. At least 887 of these candidates were boys compared to 264 candidates who were females.

In a speech read by State Minister for Higher Education, John Chrysestom Muyingo, Education Minister Janet Kataha Museveni applauded girls for the better performance. Museveni says increasing the number of girls who join A'level is a challenge that the education sector should tackle. The percentage of girls who sat for UACE was 41.4 compared to 58.6 boys. In the Primary Leaving Examination (PLE) and Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) results, the percentage of boys and girls was nearly equal but it went down at UACE results.

The better performance of girls at UACE, the education minister said, shows a determination to excel by girls who join A' Level.