UACE: As some schools jubilate, others feel disappointed

As examinations come and go, there is bound to be excitement and disappointment. The release of the Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE) exams elicited mixed reactions from schools, students and parents.

In some schools, it was merry-making and jubilations following the good performance of their students.

In others, it was a funeral like atmosphere as teachers and students looked for answers to the poor performance.

“We shall have to sit down and make an assessment of where things went wrong. But we shall bounce back,” said a teacher at Crown High School, Nansana where only ten out of 78 candidates scored 10 points and above. The rest averaged between one point and seven points. It was the third sitting of A-level exams at the school.

At Merryland High School in Entebbe, the situation was different from that of Crown High School as teachers threw a mini party to celebrate the good performance.

They bought sodas

One of their students Muhindo Asinja scored 20 points in Biology, Chemistry and Mathematics while four others got 19 points.

“I want to be a software engineer said Mungoma Kevin who scored 19 points. He was offering Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics and ICT.

Another, Joel Nasasira, who also scored 19 points said he wants to be a civil engineer.

“I expected to get 20 points but even 19 is not bad,” said Nasasira.

Similarly, Jessica Nalusembo a student of St Mark, Namagoma was all smiles after she scored 20 points in History, Economics and Geography.

She said she wanted to do a course in banking and financing.

Wamala Livingstone the publicist of the school said many of their students scored above 15 points.

“We have been working as a team. Parents and teachers,” he said.

At the headquarters of UNEB where some school heads lined up to receive results, the environment was tense.

Some head teachers like Turyatemba Siliaco from St Edwards SS, Kibaale said it was costly for them to make this journey.

Some said they want the examination body to decentralize the distribution of results at the district level to save them from making the long journey to Kampala.

Generally, according to UNEB, there was a slight decline in the performance of students who sat for exams in 2017 compared to 2016.

However Prof Mary Okwakol, the chairperson of UNEB said the performance of girls had improved slightly.