Candidates in hard-to-reach areas post improved results

Students in hard-to-reach areas have beaten the odds to post both improved enrolment and results in the just-released 2023 Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE) exams.

The results released last Thursday by Uganda National Examinations Board (Uneb) show that 52,452 candidates got three Principal Passes required for admission to university, representing 47.9 percent.  In the 2022 UACE exams, 43.5 percent of the candidates scored three Principal Passes.

In the island district of Kalangala, Bishop Dunstan Nsubuga S.S., one of the two secondary schools with Senior Six had six of its 14 candidates scoring 14 points and above. This can earn them government sponsorship at university, and would be the first of such an achievement in the school’s 38-year history.

The other candidates tied at 10, 9 points, and 8 points, with only one candidate getting 4 points.

Ms Cathy Kabashoke, the headmistress of Bishop Dunstan Nsubuga S.S, said they have put in more effort to ensure the candidates excel.

“We never allowed any candidate to be interfered with and made sure everything they needed was available,” she said. 

At Sserwanga Lwanga Memorial S.S, Hamuza Karudara from Kamuli District, who studied Biology, Chemistry, and Mathematics/ICT scored 18 points.

Of the 27 candidates who sat the 2023 UACE exams at the school, 21 scored three Principal Passes with more than 10 of them getting above 15 points.

Ms Juliet Nalunga, the head teacher, said: “He [Karudara] loved his subjects and always paid attention to what the teachers were teaching. We also equipped our laboratories and made sure the students got the best out of the teachers and we encouraged them to use their time well while in the laboratory.”

In the 2022 UACE exams, only nine candidates managed to obtain three Principal Passes with only one scoring above15 points.  The district leaders in Kalangala are also upbeat about the rising number of girls who registered to sit the 2023 UACE exams.

At Sserwanga Lwanga Memorial S.S., the number of female candidates increased from four in 2022 to 13 last year, while at Bishop Dunstan Nsubuga S.S., the number of girls rose from three in 2022 to six last year.  In the entire district, 41 candidates sat the 2023 UACE exams, with 19 of them being girls.  On this progress, Ms Resty Nakawungu, the district vice chairperson and also secretary for education, said: “It motivates us when we see more girls reaching Senior Six and siting their final exams. It is a clear manifestation that our efforts are beginning to yield results.”

Kalangala District comprises 84 islands with only 63 of them inhabited. Surprisingly, the two secondary schools with Advanced Level are only concentrated on the main Buggala Island.

In Buvama, another island district, the top candidate scored 15 points followed by another with 14 points. A total of 18 candidates sat the 2023 UACE exams in the district last year.

Mr Peter Matovu, the director of studies at Buvuma College, Kamirabukyu, said they recorded a great improvement in the 2023 UACE exams compared to the previous years.

“We have only one Advanced Level school and we are impressed with the results because all our candidates got Principal Passes,” he said.

Mr Hussein Bugembe, the Buvuma District education officer, said seven candidates passed with three Principal Passes, another four with two Principal Passes and six with one Principal Pass.

Buvuma District, which comprises nine sub-counties, has only four secondary schools in the sub-counties of Lyabaana and Lwajje.  Mr Adrian Ndungu, the Buvuma District chairperson, said he has introduced the shs1m prize to motivate the best-performing teacher in the district.

Zombo district

Zombo District in West Nile, the 2023 UACE exams results have caused excitement among the alumni of St Aloysius College Nyapea (STALCONY), whose academic performance had deteriorated over the years.

But the alumni president, Dr Amos Nyathirombo, said: “I have seen the results and the students performed well, one of them has 15 points in PEM, another 13 points in BCM and many others have good grades. Some of these students were on our scholarship because they came from hard-to-reach areas and poor families.”

Moses Oyirwoth, one of the students who scored 13 points in sciences, said: “I would like to thank STALCONY for bringing me up to this far. Words are not enough to express my happiness. God should bless you in whatever you do. I had lost hope of joining Advanced Level because of fees and Nyapea being far from our home in Nyaravur.”

Mr Nicholas Kashumba, the head teacher of Lake Bunyonyi S.S. in Kabale District, said the location of his school on Bwaama Island in the middle of Lake Bunyonyi has posed serious academic challenges since they do not have electricity to help conduct both morning and evening lessons besides private revision.

“We had 17 students that sat for the 2023 UACE exams and 15 of them managed to score two Principal Passes, with the highest getting 15 points,” he said.

The school depends on solar lighting system, which is not sufficient to run the small computer lab, school library, and lights the classrooms. We are struggling to offer education services,” he said.  Mr Kashumba said no single government building has ever been constructed since establishing the school in 1938.

“We have no science laboratory like other government schools. The room that serves as a school library can accommodate only 15 students at once, yet we have about 240 students. We have 14 teachers on the government payroll while seven others rely on parents’ support,” Mr Kashumba said.

“The only support staff paid by the government is the school bursar, and only four teachers are accommodated at the school,” he added. 

He said the students use dugout canoes as their only means of transport to cross Lake Bunyonyi daily to attend lessons and the situation worsens during the rainy seasons because the students have to wait until the lake is calm to cross and attend lessons.

Compiled by Al –Mahdi Ssenkabirwa, Robert Muhereza, Emmanuel Arineitwe Felix Warom Okello, Denis Edema

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