UCE 2025 results released showing improved performance

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 UCE 2025 RESULTS RELEASE 

📍State House, Nakasero
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 1:45 PM 

END OF LIVE PAGE

And with that, ladies and gentlemen, we bring an end to this live page. Thank you for following along and congratulations to all the achievers.

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 1:44 PM 

⚠️ Beware

Meanwhile, remember this too...

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 1:42 PM 

Senior 5 to begin March 5

In her concluding remarks, the education minister announces that the selection exercise for Senior Five will be conducted across two days (February 18-19).

Then, the first term for Senior Five students will start on March 5 as they begin their pursuit of a Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE).

Mrs Museveni then releases the results of UCE 2025.

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 1:40 PM 

Not all is lost

Congratulating all the candidates who sat the UCE exams last year, the First Lady offers words of encouragement to the candidates that did not achieve a satisfactory performance this time around.

"There is an opportunity for you to re-sit UCE exams. Your continuous assessment scores shall be carried over," she assures.
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 1:37 PM 

Mrs Museveni says the 2025 cohort performed better than their 2024 counterparts because "more candidates who sat in 2025 achieved a level of competency that was either exceptional, outstanding or satisfactory by applying the acquired knowledge and skills in real-life situations".
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 1:36 PM 

'Encouraging picture'

In her speech, the First Lady says the results of last year's UCE exams "paint a very encouraging picture", which she says is attributed to the fact that "teachers have adapted their teaching approaches to what competency-based instruction expects: the teacher is a facilitator of learning and not the source of learning.

"An area which UNEB has reported about that needs more emphasis is the continuous assessment: how it is conducted, and the time of the submission of the continuous assessment score," she says.

"I am glad to hear UNEB working together with NCDC (National Curriculum Development Centre) and the Directorate of Education Standards to intensify monitoring of implementation of continuous assessment in schools."
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 1:23 PM 

 BREAKING NEWS 

Minister receives results from UNEB

The UNEB hierarchy hands over the results of the 2025 UCE examinations to the First Lady and Minister of Education & Sports, Janet Museveni in the presence of the four education state ministers.

After her remarks, the minister will then officially release the results to the public.

Next up, higher education state minister Dr Muyingo will deliver his comments before inviting the First Lady to address the nation.

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 1:18 PM 

Viewing results on phone

After the official release, parents and guardians will be able to access the results on their mobile phones by following the procedure below:

▪️On your phone, go to the Messages menu
▪️Type UCE
▪️Leave a space
▪️Enter the full index number of the candidate
▪️Send to 6600 on MTN or Airtel networks to receive the result

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 1:16 PM 

Downloading results

After thanking his team for their tireless efforts in conducting the examinations, Odongo says the results for each examination centre will be uploaded to the centre portal and may be downloaded immediately upon official release.

He adds that the hard copies, which will not be available immediately after the release, will be available in due course.
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 1:10 PM 

'Significant drop' in those who fell short

We learn from the UNEB executive director that the percentage of candidates who did not qualify for the UCE certificate has "declined significantly". And by that, he means a drop from 1.9% in 2024 to just 0.31% in 2025.

These outcomes will be indicated on candidates’ transcripts as either Result 2 or Result 3.

For clarity's sake, Result 2 indicates that a candidate did not fulfil all the conditions for award (which could be missing a project score or sitting for fewer subjects than required or lack of continuous assessment scores).

Then, result 3 indicates that a candidate scored below the basic level (Grade E) in all subjects.

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 12:59 PM 

99.69% passed

The overall results indicate that 428,628 candidates (99.69%) who sat for the 2025 examination qualified for the UCE certificate, says Odongo.

"This outcome will be reflected on both the transcript and the certificate as Result 1."

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 12:57 PM 

'Holistic evaluation'

Under the competency-based curriculum, candidate performance is reported using achievement levels represented by the letter grades A, B, C, D, and E.

Odongo says the achievement levels for each subject were determined through "systematic, technical processes involving statistical and psychometric analysis". 

He goes on to explain that these processes integrate continuous assessment conducted at school level (20% contribution) and end-of-cycle examination score (80% contribution).

"This combined assessment approach ensures a balanced and holistic evaluation of learner performance under the competency-based framework," says the UNEB ED.

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 12:52 PM 

On special needs candidates

Odongo says a total of 708 Special Needs Education candidates registered for the 2025 examination (342 males and 366 females), compared to 743 candidates in 2024.

They included blind (27), low vision (116), deaf (60), dyslexic (90), physically handicapped (72) and other disabilities requiring extra time (343).

The executive director explains that "other disabilities” category includes candidates with sickle cell anaemia, epilepsy, and circumstantial disabilities, such as victims of accidents.

Of note, only four of the registered special needs candidates did not show up for the exams.
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 12:49 PM 

How many sat?

Odongo says 429,949 (99.5%) candidates actually sat the final exams while 2,214 (0.5%) were absent.

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 12:48 PM 

More females registered for UCE

Last year, a total of 432,163 candidates from 3,975 examination centres registered for the UCE examination, which is compared to 359,417 candidates in 2024. That represents the largest ever increase of 72,746 candidates (20.2%).

154,642 (35.8%) were USE beneficiaries while the non-USE candidates were 277,521 (64.2%).

Of those that registered, 227,871 (52.7%) were female and 204,292 (47.3%) were male.
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 12:35 PM 

A strong case for CBC

UNEB executive director Dan Odongo expounds on the UNEB study on the the CBC, saying the research revealed that learners trained under this new system:

▪️Demonstrate strong research skills
▪️Can construct knowledge independently
▪️Are more creative and innovative
▪️Communicate more effectively
▪️Show improved critical thinking and problem-solving abilities
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 12:30 PM 

'Transformative curriculum'

So are the learners under the competency-based curriculum any different from those under the former content-based curriculum?

Obua says that in 2025, UNEB conducted a "comprehensive study" aimed at achieving empirical evidence on the benefits of the competency-based curriculum from the perspectives of school administrators, teachers, and learners themselves. 

He says what they found out provides a "clear and convincing answer". 

"The results confirm that the CBC is a strong, transformative curriculum, well-positioned to produce the type of Ugandans needed to drive the country’s socio-economic transformation and advance Uganda toward its middle-income status vision."
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 12:25 PM 

'Busy 2025'

Last year's UCE final exams were the second under the competency-based curriculum, a result of which made 2025 a "busy" academic year of curriculum-based assessment, according to UNEB chairperson Prof. Celestino Obua.

Obua congratulates all those who have qualified for a UCE certificate and encourages the relatively fewer ones that have fallen short of the target that not all is lost; they can try again.
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 12:18 PM 

Event begins

The results release ceremony has begun at State House Nakasero, with the formalities of national anthems and prayers.

Present are the three education state ministers (Dr John Chrysestom Muyingo for higher education, Dr Joyce Moriku Kaducu for primary education and Peter Ogwang for sports), ministry permanent secretary Dr Kedrace Turyagyenda and other ministry officials, as well as UNEB officials.

Weatherwise, it's a fairly warm early afternoon in Uganda's capital.
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 11:46 AM 

12th UNEB Board inaugurated

Today's release of UCE exams comes four days after the inauguration of the 12th UNEB Board, which is composed of 13 members and chaired by Prof. Celestino Obua for a second term. 

Higher education state minister Dr John Chrysestom Muyingo (seated centre in the picture) represented education minister Mrs Museveni in inaugurating the board, with the First Lady calling for integrity, accountability, and innovation in the management of national examinations.

She also emphasized the critical role of UNEB in national development and public trust, urging the new Board to safeguard the credibility of Uganda’s assessment system. 

The outgoing Board was commended for major achievements, including implementation of Competence-Based Assessment, reduction in examination malpractice, timely release of results, and initiation of e-assessment systems.
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 11:33 AM 

⚠️ Beware

Do not be duped...

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 11:25 AM 

Nervous? Excited? Anxious?

You would imagine there is definitely a good number of people out there who are harbouring the above emotions ahead of today's official release of the results of the 2025 Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) examinations.

Hello and welcome along to New Vision's text coverage of this significant event that is set to take place at State House, Nakasero in the capital Kampala. The First Lady and Minister of Education of Sports, Janet Museveni, will do the honours. As is the norm, the Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) will hand over the results to her, which she will then officially release to the public.

The release of the 2025 UCE results comes exactly two weeks after that of the 2025 Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE), which is a level immediately lower in Uganda's education system. 

Typically, from primary school, learners advance to secondary school, which starts with four years of Ordinary Level (Senior One to Senior Four) and then ends with Advanced Level (Senior Five and Senior Six).