KAMPALA – On Wednesday, April 5, the Uganda Business and Technical Examinations Board – UBTEB released the November/December 2022 end-of-programme and modular examinations results.
The Board Executive Secretary – Onesmus Oyesigye revealed they registered a total of 72,247 for the assessments, 21,641 of whom were females.
The Board reported that a total of 5,293 were unable to sit their examinations for different reasons.
34,736 (48%) registered for the End of module assessment and 37,511 (52%) for the End of programme examinations.
Oyesigye said that out of the 66,954 candidates who sat for examinations, 52,373 candidates (78.2%) successfully acquired all competencies in their respective trades.
“Female candidates contributed 15,705 (30%) to this successful completion compared to male candidates with 36,668 (70%).”
Also read; UBTEB Nov/Dec 2022 results out, over 78% of candidates pass with flying colours
The Board called on the Government and TVET stakeholders to develop a deliberate affirmative intervention to attract more females for skilling centres.
According to Mr. ES, there was a very good performance exhibited at the Physical and Biological Science Diploma End of the programme with 100% pass rate, Business Diploma End of programmes (82.3%), Technical National Certificate modular assessment (80.05%) and Technical National certificate end of programme assessments 76.3%.
“All other programmes were also well performed above 70% pass rates and this is a commendable performance,” he said.
The Board registered a 3.2% performance improvement from 75% in 2020 to 78.2% in 2022. In the November/December 2020 examinations results, 11,334 out of 15,019 candidates successfully completed.
The Board, however, says the number of candidates who acquired full competencies were lower than expected for those who pursued Certificates in Leather Tanning & Production, Welding & Metal Fabrication, Wood Work Technology and certificate in Machining and Fitting.
DETAILS OF CANDIDATE’S PERFORMANCE IN SPECIFIC PROGRAMMES
Technical Advanced Craft Programme Results
The general registration for examinations improved by 4.9% from 159 in 2020 to 172 in 2022.
This year out of the 172 candidates who registered, 122 (70.9%) turned up for examinations and 75.4% acquired the competencies required of their respective programmes compared to 74% in 2020.
Candidates scoring Distinction improved from 13% in 2020 to 35.2% in 2022.
Technical National Certificate- End of Programme Results
The general number of registered candidates for examinations improved from 11,747 in 2020 to 16.961 in 2022.
General completion rate also improved from 74% in 2020 to 76.3% in 2022, while for most individual programmes the completion rates are above 70%.
The number of candidates who scored Distinction improved from 2% in 2020 to 16.2% in 2022.
Certificates in Leather tanning and production machining & fitting and Certificate in Painting & Decoration completion rates were the worst performed with very low completion rates of 54.8%, 66.7% and 62.5% respectively.
Technical National Certificate- Modular Assessment Results
The Board reported that the performance of these candidates was also very good with a general modular completion rate of 76.2%.
However, candidates who pursued Certificate in Electronics Technology did not show good mastery of Electrical engineering science, which affected the completion rates (66.7%) of the programme.
“Candidates of Leather Tanning could have also performed better if they had shown competence in lathe operation,” said Executive Secretary.
Similarly, he noted that those who pursued Automotive mechanics did poorly in Automotive transmission, Trans-axle & suspension and suspension steering theory.
Uganda Community Polytechnic Certificate- Modular Assessment Results
The general turn-up for examination was very good with 91.4% response.
Out of the candidates that sat 73.3% acquired full competencies in the different modules of their trades,
Uganda Community Polytechnic Certificate- End of Programme Results
The general completion rate stands at 87.1%.
Business Diploma – End of Programmes Results
In this group, the completion rate stands at 82.3%, a 10.3% performance improvement compared to Nov-Dec 2020 performance.
However, Board says the turn-up for exams was rather very low.
Business Certificate Programmes Results
From the results statistics in this category of programmes, out of the 4,149 candidates that registered, 3,345 (80.6) turned up for examinations.
Of those that turned up, 13.8% scored distinction, 60.7% Credit and no candidate performed at pass level.
The overall completion rate stood at 74.6%.
Physical & Biological Sciences Diploma & Certificate Programme Results
For this category of programmes, out of the 207 candidates that registered for examinations, 203 (98.1) turned up for examinations.
Out of those that turned up for examinations, 2.5% scored distinction, 72.9% Credit and no candidate scored pass.
The overall completion rate is 75.4% while those candidates that are required to perfect their competencies in different modules constituted 24.6%.
Completion rates of most programmes are very good, over 70%, and all candidates who pursued Diploma programmes passed.
The performance of candidates, however, in Boat Building and Marine Mechanics and Certificate in Fisheries Management and Technologies were not very good with completion rates of 50% and 39.1% respectively. The Board attributed this to limited knowledge of Applied Mathematics.
The Board decried the issue of absenteeism caused by various reasons, but mostly by failure to meet the tuition fees requirements, early engagement in the world of work and sometimes sicknesses.
“Whereas the 7.3% absenteeism is still high, there is a 12.5% reduction from 19.8% in 2020,” said Oyesigye.
The Board also decried examination malpractice where 94 candidates were found guilty and their examination results for the entire semester were nullified.
Challenges encountered during the general Conduct of Examinations & Processing of Results
Oyesigye said that the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown spillover effects have continued to affect the pattern of conduct of examinations from the usual two assessment series to the present three series per year, which has proved to be very costly on the side of the Board, students and training institutions amidst meagre resources.
“The conduct of on-spot practical assessments which are critical in competency-based assessment remains costly to the Board.”
He also said the late placement of trainees for internship by some training institutions, and reluctance by some industries to offer placement areas for industrial attachment to the trainees affects their completion rates.
“While the Board has established a Special Needs Unit and deploys examination support personnel for candidates with Special Needs, there are no Trainers of Special Needs in training institutions which in turn affects the assessment processes.”
Recommendations
The Board called for an increased budget to support the implementation of TVET reforms as enshrined in the TVET Policy 2019 through modularization of skills assessment, Staff Capacity Building to re-align assessment to the needs of the world of work.
The Government was also tasked to develop a framework to engage the industries to offer industrial field attachments to the TVET Trainees and TVET trainers for up-skilling.
Trainers and other Support personnel need to be retrained specifically to take care of Trainees with Special Needs, said Oyesigye.
The Board also wants the Ministry of Education and Sports and other Development Partners to provide support for ICT equipment and internet connectivity in Public and Private TVET providers to match with the digital world.
“TVET stakeholders should partner with Government and the Board to promote awareness in critical TVET programmes that could make youth productive, employable and relevant to the Economy.”
