The 2024 Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE) results, released today, have once again highlighted the academic dominance of female students over their male counterparts.
Girls outperformed boys in key performance metrics, including three principal passes (3P) and two principal passes (2P), while also excelling in humanities, physics, and general paper.
Key Highlights from the Results
- Three Principal Passes (3P):
- Girls: 26,928 (43.7%)
- Boys: 34.6%
- Two Principal Passes (2P):
- Girls: 43,890 (71.2%)
- Boys: 48,383 (61.1%)
The data shows that female candidates consistently achieve higher pass rates at the upper levels (3P and 2P) compared to males.
Girls Excel in Humanities and Sciences
Proportionally, female candidates performed better than males in all humanity subjects, physics, and general paper.
Dan Odongo, Executive Director of the Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB), noted that this trend has persisted for many years.
“Females have continued to outperform males in humanities and general paper, and this is a trend we’ve observed for quite some time,” Odongo said.
Growing Female Participation in Sciences and Math
While female entries for sciences and mathematics remain lower than males, the numbers have been steadily increasing over the past five years:
- Mathematics:
- 2019: 8,942
- 2024: 19,863
- Physics:
- 2019: 2,058
- 2024: 5,836
Odongo expressed optimism about this growth, stating, “There is something to be happy about as the number of female candidates doing sciences and mathematics has kept on growing in the last five years.”
Prison Candidates Perform Well
Of the 48 candidates who sat for UACE in prisons, 93.8% were male. 25 candidates (52.1%) obtained three principal passes, and all qualified for the UACE certificate.
Only one candidate did not sit for the examination.
What This Means for Uganda’s Education System
The 2024 UACE results underscore the academic prowess of female students and highlight the need to encourage more girls to pursue science and mathematics. A
s Uganda continues to invest in education, these trends offer hope for a more balanced and inclusive academic landscape.
