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Traditional schools hike senior five cut-off points
Kinoni Girls SS head teacher Grace Tweheyo Ndagire (left), Mbarara SS deputy head teacher Monica Ashaba (centre) and Rwimi SS director of studies Moses Walugembe during the Senior Five selection exercise at UMA Show Grounds in Kampala on February 23, 2023. PHOTO/FRANK BAGUMA
What you need to know:
- Most of the top schools have been given between 100 and 130 students enrolment.
Many traditional schools across the country have hiked their cut-off points for Senior Five students, citing better performance by the candidates who sat for the 2022 Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE)exams.
According to the cut-off points, Trinity College, Nabbingo, raised their points from 16 to 14 while St Henry’s College, Kitovu, inched up from 15 to Aggregate 14 score.
Other traditional schools that raised their cutoff points are; Immaculate Hearts Girls School from 21 to 18, Makerere College from 18 for girls to 17 and 15 for boys to 14.
Kawempe Muslim Secondary school’s cut-off point also rose from 22 for girls to 20 and 21 to 19 for boys, Kira College, Butiki, from 22 to 21 and Mbarara High School from 22 to 19.
The heads of all the above schools told this paper that they hiked the cut-off points due to better performance that was posted by candidates who sat for the 2022 UCE.
The Deputy Head Teacher administration of St Henry’s Kitovu, Mr Martin Wanambwa, confirmed that the school has hiked cut-off points owing to better performance.
“Not only did the students perform better in the 2022 UCE examination, a number of schools across the country have come up to take candidates hence the competition, ”Mr Wanambwa said.
The deputy headmistress of Trinity College Nabbingo, Ms Betty Mwesigwa, said their candidates performed better in UCE and most of them gave the school first choice.
“Majority of the girls we taught gave us the first choice. All these have been selected to come back and study their A-Level from here. Majority of these performed better, so we had to hike the points,” Ms Mwesigwa said.
Most of the traditional and top schools have been given between 100 to 130 students enrolment.
However, unlike last year where all top schools hiked their cut-off points, some top traditional schools have decided to maintain their points while others have lowered the cut-off points.
Heads of schools in these institutions said they acted in that manner to be able to accommodate the majority of the UCE candidates who gave them the first choice.
According to the cut-off points, schools such as Gayaza High School (12), King’s College, Budo (10 girls, 9 boys), Ndejje SS (16 girls, 15 boys), Gombe SS ( 21 both boys and girls), and Mengo Senior Secondary School (18 girls, 16 boys) have maintained their cut-off points.
Schools that lowered their cut-off points include; Nabisunsa Girls from 14 to 15, Mary Hill SS from 16 to 17, Bweranyangi Girls SS from 21 to 22 and Ntare School from 15 to 16.
The cut-off points for Nabisunsa Girls School has always been comparable with that of Gayaza High School.
However, the career master of Nabisunsa Girls School, Mr Ibrahim Ssendawula, said they lowered their cut-off points because girls did not perform as well as their male counterparts.
Officials from the Uganda National Examination Board said whereas female students performed better than their male counterparts in English language, boys performed better than girls in other subjects.
According to the UCE performance, of 345,695 candidates who sat for the examinations 173,761 were male and 171,934 were female. About 15.5 percent of boys passed in Division One compared to 11.5 females, 23.3 percent of boys passed in Division Two compared to 21.0 percent females, 25.5 percent of boys passed in Division Three compared to 25.8 percent of females.
31.4 percent of boys passed in Division Four compared to 37.0 percent of girls. When it comes to failure, 4.3 percent of boys failed compared to 4.7 percent of females.
Apart from Nabisunsa Girls, the cut-off points for female students across all the schools, including those that hiked, was lower than that of their male counterparts. This is attributed to the better performance posted by boys for the previous five years.
Senior Five students are slated to start school on March 6.
Education ministry officials have also cautioned schools against hiking school fees as Senior Five starts and the rest of students settle in.
This is not the first time the ministry is warning schools against hiking fees. Prior to reopening of schools this academic year, the Minister of Education asked schools to maintain last year’s fees following guidance from Cabinet.
However, the Ministry of Education Permanent Secretary, Ms Ketty Lamaro, yesterday said the ministry has learnt that some schools defied the directive and increased fees.
“We are still compiling the list and evidence of those schools that defied the directive and [these] will be dealt with accordingly,” Ms Lamaro said.
Schools have also been asked to desist from bringing the deadline for completing payment of school fees closer.
Meanwhile, Ms Lamaro asked schools to support Senior Six students to fill the Public Universities Joint Admissions Board forms.
“You are aware that these forms provide the students with a wide range of choices to make to admission on National merit into Institutions of Higher Learning,” Ms Lamaro said.
She added that they continue to receive reports that some teachers compel students to fill the choices of courses and universities they don’t desire , in addition to informing them that the first two choices out of the six are the most important.
“It has also come to the ministry’s attention that schools overcharge students for these forms which cost only Shs52, 000. Some schools charge as high as Shs100, 000 per student, and some learners do not fill these forms as a result of the exorbitant charges. This practice is unethical and should stop,”Ms Lamaro said.
Compiled by Damalie Mukhaye, Frank Baguma, Akullu Felly Lydia, Dorothy Nagitta, Karim Muyobo, Esther Bridget Nakalya, Shabibah Nakirigya & Peter Sserugo.
