Summary:
- The Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) will now report student project scores separately on Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) certificates under the new lower secondary school curriculum. This change aims to better evaluate and recognize students’ skills. Schools must submit project scores, and students without these will not be graded.
KAMPALA, (Examiner) – The Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) has announced that under the new lower secondary school curriculum, student project scores will be reported separately on Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) certificates.
Dan Odongo, UNEB’s Executive Director, confirmed this update during a press briefing on this year’s examination cycle. He emphasized that this initiative aims to better evaluate and recognize students’ skills and accomplishments.
“Project scores will be reported separately on the certificates. Any candidates without a project score will not be graded by UNEB,” Odongo stated.
According to UNEB, schools will submit the project achievements of students from Senior Three and Four for evaluation. Jennifer Kalule, UNEB’s spokesperson, noted that schools have been provided with a project observation checklist to guide these submissions. The board will review the submissions to ensure they meet the required standards and are not falsified.
The new lower secondary curriculum includes school-based assessments and practical projects, with school-based assessments contributing 20 percent of the final mark. Initially, the Directorate of Industrial Training was to handle the practical component assessment, but this responsibility has since been transferred to UNEB.
Parents were informed that a learner’s project in Senior Three would be assessed for a Level One Competency Certificate from the Uganda Vocational Qualification Framework (UVQF), resulting in students receiving both the UVQF certificate and the UCE upon completion. However, this changed when the Ministry of Education reassigned the assessment responsibility to UNEB.
Maliko Ssemusu, a teacher in Wakiso, expressed concerns about how project assessments would be handled. These concerns have now been addressed by UNEB’s recent announcement.
In addition to project scores, schools will also submit continuous assessment scores, starting with one term’s scores for the pioneering examination. UNEB requires the submission of scores for the Activity of Integration from Senior Three and Four, to be submitted electronically via the UNEB portal between June 4 and October 4, 2024. Late submissions will be accepted until October 15, but will incur an extra charge. Scores submitted after October 15 will not be accepted.
Odongo emphasized that teachers must ensure they obtain coursework assessment records for any learners transferring from other schools, as those without these records will not be graded.
To support the new assessment system, UNEB is currently training secondary school teachers across the country in competence-based and continuous assessment skills, as well as data collection using the assessment management information system.
Despite these efforts, critics argue that the training has been delayed and many teachers remain unclear about the assessment procedures, raising concerns about the accuracy and quality of the submitted marks.
This year, UNEB’s candidate registration closes on May 31. The board will administer four national exams, including the Primary Leaving Examination (PLE), Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) under both the new and old curricula, and the Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE).
