Not a single senior four candidate in Maracha district registered a first grade in this year’s Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) mock examinations. At least 897 candidates from both public and private schools registered for the mock exams.
However, the results released on Wednesday revealed that no student had achieved a first-division grade. Only 22 students passed with second-grade scores, 80 attained third-division scores, 475 secured fourth-division and 306 students failed the exams. Additionally, 14 students were unable to write the mock examinations due to various reasons.
Francis Enzama, the Secretary for Maracha District Secondary Schools Examination Council, explained that while the primary purpose of these examinations was to assess students’ knowledge, skills, and competencies in various subjects, many candidates faced challenges in interpreting the questions, resulting in the poor results.
Meanwhile, Romano Oka, the Chairperson of Maracha District Secondary Schools Head Teacher Association, attributed the poor results to a lack of commitment and prevalent cases of indiscipline among the students. Oka encouraged both students and teachers to use these results as motivation to work diligently in preparation for the upcoming final national exams scheduled for later this year.
Dicky Alema, the Maracha District Secretary for Social Services, urged head teachers to assist in preparing the candidates, emphasizing that there is still an opportunity to improve the outcomes during the forthcoming final examinations. Alema pointed out that teachers should guide students through corrections based on the mock exam performance.
Alema stated, “The environment under which our students sat for the mock exams was not favorable, but there is still room for improving these results before the final examinations.” This year’s mock exams were administered by at least 11 secondary schools, as indicated by records from the Maracha District Secondary Schools Examinations Council.
URN.
It’s time to everyone responsible to sit down including parents, teachers, students involved in this plus all stack holders to see this changed within these two weeks.