State Minister for Higher Education John Chrysestom Muyingo has partially blamed teacher-absenteeism for the poor performance of students in some subjects in the just released 2022 Advanced Certificate Examinations.
Mr. Muyingo made the remarks on Friday while presiding at the release of the 2022 UACE results at the Office of the Prime Minister in Kampala. A total of 97,889 candidates registered for the examination from 1,969 Centres. Of these, 42% were females while 58% were males.
UNEB statistics show that about 89.3% of the 2022 UACE candidates will qualify for admission to other tertiary institutions (not university) as they obtained at least one principal and two subsidiary pass levels.
Speaking about the general performance however, the State Minister said the results could have been much better if all teachers were fully rendering services expected of them within the approved and designated time.
“It is time for us to crack down on this habit. Absenteeism continues to be the biggest challenge the education sector faces. I call upon head teachers and the Ministry of Education and Sports to carry out strict supervision of the culpable staff,” Muyingo stressed.
“I wish to emphasize to our teachers the importance of guiding young learners. I wish to encourage teachers to look into the areas mentioned having candidates scoring poorly,” Muyingo however applauded all those who excelled in the examinations.
He appealed that while the attraction of university education still remains strong, youths should take advantage of the many opportunities available in other tertiary institutions outside universities.
The State Minister advised that as a country, it is important that more learners take up science courses because these tend to come up with more employment opportunities and also it is easy for one to start up their own jobs.
“Get interested in what is offered in our medical and technical training institutions. Whereas other subjects are important in the development of morals and other aspects of life, industrial development, which is the foundation of economic growth, depends a lot on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics subjects,” Muyingo tipped.