Tayari News
KAMPALA – The Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) has registered higher achievement levels in the 2025 Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) results that were released on Friday, 13th February by the Minister of Education, Janet Kataaha Museveni.
UNEB Executive Director, Dan Odongo, during the ceremony of releasing UCE results, noted that 99.69% of the candidates who sat for the UCE qualified for the certificate.
“Achievement levels in the 2025 examination have improved compared to those of 2024. The overall results show that 428,628 (99.69%) of the candidates who sat in 2025 qualified for the UCE certificate. The percentage of candidates who do not qualify for the UCE certificate has also dropped very significantly from 1.9 per cent to only 0.31 per cent,” Odongo said, adding that details will, respectively, be shown on the candidates’ transcripts as Result 2 or 3.
According to Odongo, Higher Exceptional levels of achievements are noted in Christian Religious Education, Geography and English Language compared to 2024.
“More candidates have achieved at higher levels of C and above in 2025 compared to 2024. This is quite encouraging in the sciences, where percentages of candidates who have not achieved at least the D level have dropped very significantly.” He stated
In the Science practical assessments, candidates were expected to use a given scenario and materials provided to develop aims and a hypothesis, plan and carry out investigations and draw conclusions. The scorers (examiners) report that although significant improvements have been made, the problem, as observed in the 2024 examination, is the failure of candidates to interpret the scenarios, or connect the scenarios and the materials supplied to real-life situations, or interpret the results of the experiments carried out and create meaning that connects to everyday situations.” The UNEB boss added
A total of 432,163 candidates from 3,975 examination centres registered for the UCE 2025 examination, compared to 359,417 candidates in 2024, an increase of 72,746 (20.2%). Of these, 204,292 (47.3%) were males, while 227,871 (52.7%) were females. 154,642 (35.8%) were beneficiaries of the USE programme, and 277,521 (64.2%) were non-beneficiaries of the USE programme.
UNEB reported that a total of 429,949 (99.5%) candidates were present for the examination in 2025, compared to 357,120 in 2024, adding that only 2,214 (0.5%) were absent, and the rate of absenteeism continues to drop.
What you should know
Female candidates demonstrated higher achievement levels in English Language and Christian Religious Education. In the other subjects, History and Political Education, Geography, Mathematics, Agriculture, Physics, Chemistry and Biology, the proportions of females in the exceptional levels are slightly lower than that of males.
At the Uganda Government Upper Prison School, Luzira, 40 candidates were registered. Of the 40 candidates who registered, 39 candidates sat; one did not sit for the examination. All the candidates qualified for the UCE certificate. At Mbarara Main Prison Inmates’ Secondary School, 12 candidates were registered, and they all sat for the examination. All of them also qualified for the UCE certificate.
Few cases of malpractice were reported this year, with only 63 cases reported, because the nature of the items in the question papers does not lend itself easily to malpractice, UNEB said
However, the cases reported are mostly in Mathematics and the practical papers in Physics, Chemistry and Biology. In these cases, the examination body recorded overwhelming evidence that the candidates were given experimental results by teachers merely to copy into their tables.