UBTEB releases Nov/Dec 2023 examination results, females beat males

The Uganda Business and Technical Examinations Board – UBTEB has released the November/December 2023 end-of-program examination results.

93% of candidates successfully acquired all competencies in their respective trades, according to Mr. Onesmus Oyesigye – UBTEB Executive Secretary.

He revealed that the Board registered 23,971 candidates of which 7,573 were females representing 32% while the males were 16,398 representing 68% for final year examinations and assessment.

“Generally, out of the 21,179 candidates who sat for examinations, 20,017 Candidates (93%) successfully acquired all competencies in their respective trades. Out of the 6,593 female candidates that sat, 6,308 representing 96% successfully completed their studies whereas out of the 14,586 male candidates that sat, 13,709 7/2lenting 94% completed their studies This implies that overall the female candidates.”

Oyesigye said that the number of female candidates has continued to increase from 18% in 2012 when the Board began assessments to 32% in the year 2023.

Out of the 23,971 candidates registered, 22,826, he noted that candidates representing 95% were for National Certificate courses following modularised training and assessment.

“Out of the 23,971 registered candidates, 21,179 (88%) sat for examinations, while 2,792 (12%) candidates were absent from the entire examinations or did not attend some examination papers. Whereas the percentage of absenteeism has gone on reducing, some factors have continued to remain at play. Based on the recent survey carried by the Board, such factors include fees challenges, absenteeism of trainers, working students and sickness among others.”

He added, “Out of the 21,179 candidates that sat for the examinations, 6,593 representing 31% were female candidates.

On the same fucntion, Janet Museveni, the First Lady and Minister of Education and Sports has lauded the Uganda Business and Technical Examinations Board – UBTEB for the positive changes being implemented in line with the priorities of the Government in the Skills Development Agenda but also the affirmative action in supporting the girl child.

“I am happy to note that in the results being released today, female candidates have performed better than their male counterparts and that the number of girls have continued to increase in Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions.”

The Minister was today Wednesday officiating at the release of the UBTEB November/December 2023 examinations results for national certificates courses and diploma programmes.

According to the Board Executive Secretary – Mr. Onesmus Oyesigye, they conducted exams in areas of Diploma programmes (Physical & Biological Sciences), Advanced Craft Courses, National Certificate Courses, Certificate Courses (Business), and Certificate Courses (Physical & Biological Sciences) from 20th November to 22nd December, 2023 in 266 examination centres.

“Overall, the Board registered 23,971 candidates of which 7,573 were females representing 32% while the males were 16,398 representing 68% for final year examinations and assessment. The number of female candidates has continued to increase from 18% in 2012 when the Board begun assessments to 32% in the year 2023,” he reported.

He reported that out of the registered candidates, 88% sat for examinations, attributing absenteeism to fees challenges, absenteeism of trainers, working students, and sickness among others.

Out of the 23,971 candidates registered, Mr. Oyesigye said 22,826 (7,158 F & 15,668 M) candidates representing 95% were for National Certificate courses following modularised training and assessment.

“Out of the 21,179 candidates that sat for the examinations, 6,593 representing 31% were female candidates,” he said.

Generally, the Board recorded 93% (20,017 students) success – out of whom 6,593 female candidates that sat, 6,308 representing 96% successfully completed their studies whereas out of the 14,586 male candidates that sat, 13,709 representing 94% completed their studies.

“This implies that overall the female candidates performed better than their male counterparts,” said Oyesigye.

He noted that he trainees of National Certificate courses that have undergone their training under the modularised training and assessment have performed better (95%) compared to the performance of candidates in the previously non-modularised assessment at 76% in 2022.

“The main reason is that in the latter assessment there is flexibility in training, more practical and hands-on training.”

“Across all other programmes categories, however, the competence acquisition rates are still very good, above 80%, save for the Advanced craft courses with 69% competence acquisition rate,” he said.

Mr. ES is optimistic about a great improvement in bridging the job gap since these graduates can also competently create own employment and absorb other youth. The Board advised such graduates to come together as teams to be able to jointly source funds to begin own enterprises.

However, Mr. ES wasn’t happy with a total of 55 students who engaged in examination malpractices. He asked the minister to cancel their examinations – which she responded to positively.

He raised a number of challenges encountered during the general Conduct of Examinations & Processing of Results including;

The conduct of on-spot practical assessments which are critical in competence-based assessment remains costly to both the Board and training institutions.

The late placement of trainees for internships by some training institutions affects the completion rates of candidates.

There is a challenge of reluctance by some industries to offer Industrial Training placement vacancies to the trainees yet this is very important in the acquisition of hands-on training.

Assessment of Special Needs candidates on curricula which are not designed for special needs trainees is a great challenge, especially for candidates of journalism and other media and engineering-related programmes. Thus a need to review the curriculum. In addition, while the Board established a Special Needs Unit and deploys examination support personnel for candidates with Special Needs, the Instructors need to be retooled to handle learners with Special Needs in training institutions.

The Board called for financial support to implement the TVET Policy 2019 through modularization of skills assessment, Staff Capacity Building to re-align assessment to the needs of the world of work,

Asked stakeholders in the Industry and Private Sector to receive and support industrial field attachments to the TVET Trainees and TVET trainers for upskilling. On this, the Board wants the government to develop a framework to engage the industries for this cause,

Also, Oyesigye called for mechanisms by the Ministry and other stakeholders to retool Instructors for continuous professional development including attending to trainees with special needs, and

Expediting the process of curricula review to improve the training and assessment of Trainees with Special Needs.

Mrs Museveni commended the Board on modularized assessment – noting that this paradigm shift from traditional assessment will make it easier and flexible for trainees to understand their competences better, become more functional and complete their studies in accordance with the required skills in time.

She noted that her Government is committed to ensuring that they produce a dynamic and skilled workforce that will support the growth of key sectors of the economy such as manufacturing, Construction, Oil and gas among others.

Represented by the State Minister for Primary Education, Joyce Moriku Kaducu, Mrs Museveni said that the government has put in place women Empowerment Programmes in different Sectors of the Economy, revealing that in the TVET sub-sector, emphasis is on enrolling more females to pursue TVET courses.

“My Ministry therefore, offered sponsorship to female students interested in doing Diploma programmes in the Academic year 2024/2025 in the following disciplines; Road construction and maintenance, welding and metal fabrication, manufacturing Technology, Equipment maintenance Technology and Mechanical engineering technology. This is to address the imbalances in access to TVET where these girls have small enrollment.”

She added, “The female scholarships create empowered communities where the female TVET graduates contribute towards income generation through innovations and job creation. All efforts should be put in place to encourage more girls to join TVET.”

Mrs Museveni pledged the commitment to initiate and support more reforms in the education system in order to support the infrastructural development being undertaken such as the oil refinery, standard gauge railway, ICT infrastructure, electricity generation, and automobile production among others.

She revealed that a shs7.5 billion supplementary budget was approved by Parliament for the construction of the ongoing UBTEB Assessment Centre.

On the other hand, she noted that the Government is carrying out TVET reforms to ensure that the TVET system is flexible, relevant and demand-driven.

“As a result the TVET Bill is in advanced stages. Consultations with stakeholders have been concluded and the technical team is incorporating feedback, to enable adoption and later approval by Parliament.”

She rallied the stakeholders in the industry to support the TVET Institutions in placement of TVET trainees for Industrial Training and Internship for it reduces the cost of training employees.

She also encouraged TVET trainers to deepen the adaption of training with production where the skilling of young people should focus on utilization of materials for projects that are relevant and helpful to the surrounding communities, noting that it will reduce the cost of practical assessment, promote cost sharing with the communities and income generation in TVET Institutions.

The minister encouraged the public to pursue TVET as an alternative pathway of career progression in education and support young people to embrace TVET since the enrolment of the students post-Primary Leaving Examinations has drastically reduced at Uganda Certificate of Education and Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education respectively.