Agency
For years, the release of Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) results has sparked a rush to tally distinctions, rank top performers, and celebrate high scores.
That era is now over. With the rollout of Uganda’s new competency-based curriculum, schools will no longer rank candidates by divisions or points.
Instead, the focus shifts to individual achievement levels, marking a significant shift in the country’s assessment approach.
The Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) has officially abandoned the traditional Division 1–4 grading system, replacing it with a competency-based assessment that evaluates students’ ability to apply knowledge and skills in real-life situations.
Releasing the first-ever UCE results under this format, UNEB Executive Director Dan Odongo clarified that candidates will now be assessed using letter grades (A to E) rather than ranked by divisions.
A candidate qualifies for a UCE certificate if they attain at least a Grade D in one subject,” Odongo explained.
The new system categorizes performance into five achievement levels.
The highest, A (Exceptional), reflects advanced competency, where students apply knowledge innovatively.
B (Outstanding) indicates a high level of competency, with effective practical application of skills. C (Satisfactory) shows adequate knowledge and skill application in real-life situations, while D (Basic) represents a minimum competency level with limited practical application and E (Elementary) is the lowest, signaling difficulty in applying knowledge effectively.
Odongo emphasized that under this format, no student is considered to have failed, as every learner attains some level of competency.
The competency-based system integrates 20% school-based Continuous Assessment (CA) and 80% final examination performance, making it a more holistic evaluation method.
This year’s results show that 350,146 candidates (98.05%) qualified for the UCE certificate, earning Result 1 on their transcripts.
Candidates who missed compulsory subjects did not sit for at least eight subjects or lacked project work scores received Result 2, meaning they do not qualify for a UCE certificate.
Those who attained only achievement level E in all subjects received Result 3, also making them ineligible for certification.
Speaking at the release of the examinations, Education Minister Janet Museveni urged the country to embrace the new changes in student assessment, emphasizing that they are for the better.
She acknowledged that the long-standing practice of using aggregates and divisions to rank schools had fueled unethical competition among institutions.
