The Minister of Education and Sports, Janet Museveni, has commended the improved performance of candidates in the 2025 Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) examinations, citing stronger learner outcomes and increased demonstration of practical competence under the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC).
Speaking at the official release of the 2025 UCE results at State House Nakasero on Friday, Mrs Museveni said the results reflected clear progress compared to 2024, with a higher proportion of candidates attaining acceptable, satisfactory and outstanding levels of competence.
She attributed the improvement to sustained education reforms, strengthened continuous assessment, and the dedication of teachers, parents and learners across the country.
The minister congratulated all candidates who sat the examinations for completing a critical stage of their academic journey and encouraged those who did not attain satisfactory results not to lose hope. She noted that affected learners can retake the examinations, with their continuous assessment scores carried forward.
Mrs Museveni also paid tribute to parents and guardians for the sacrifices made to support their children’s education, describing their contribution as central to improved learning outcomes. She urged families to embrace diverse education pathways, emphasizing that vocational and skills-based routes remain viable options up to the highest qualification levels.
She further announced that the Senior Five selection exercise will be conducted from May 18 to 19, 2026, while the first term for Senior Five will begin on March 6, 2026.
Meanwhile, the Executive Director of the Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB), Dan Odongo, revealed that 428,628 candidates (99.69 percent) who sat for the 2025 UCE examinations qualified for the certificate.
Odongo said the percentage of candidates who did not qualify dropped significantly from 1.9 percent in 2024 to just 0.31 percent in 2025, reflecting improved performance nationwide.
He explained that candidates who did not meet all requirements are indicated on transcripts as Result 2 or Result 3. Result 2 applies to candidates who missed components such as project scores, sat fewer subjects than required, or lacked Continuous Assessment (CA) scores. Result 3 is assigned to candidates who scored below the basic level (Grade E) in all subjects.
A total of 708 Special Needs Education (SNE) candidates sat the 2025 examinations, comprising 342 males and 366 females, slightly fewer than the 743 recorded in 2024. The categories included 27 blind candidates, 116 with low vision, 60 deaf, 90 dyslexic, 72 physically handicapped, and 343 with other conditions such as sickle cell anaemia, epilepsy and accident-related injuries.
Odongo emphasized UNEB’s efforts to ensure accessibility and fairness for SNE candidates, including provision of Braille question papers, sign language interpreters, enlarged-print papers, additional support personnel and 45 extra minutes per paper.
Overall, 432,163 candidates from 3,975 examination centres registered for the 2025 UCE examinations, marking a 20.2 percent increase from 359,417 candidates in 2024. Of the total registered candidates, 204,292 (47.3 percent) were male while 227,871 (52.7 percent) were female. Additionally, 154,642 (35.8 percent) were Universal Secondary Education (USE) beneficiaries, while 277,521 (64.2 percent) were non-USE candidates.
Examination attendance remained high, with 429,949 candidates present (99.5 percent) and 2,214 absent (0.5 percent), continuing the declining trend in absenteeism observed in 2024.
However, the Chairperson of UNEB, Celestino Obua, raised concerns over challenges affecting the implementation of the Competency-Based Curriculum.
Prof. Obua acknowledged that while the CBC has produced learners who are more creative, innovative and research-oriented, gaps remain that could undermine its effectiveness. He cited inadequate library and internet facilities, large class sizes that limit individual attention, and insufficient time for project work as key challenges.
He also warned about the integrity and timely submission of continuous assessment scores, noting cases where some schools submitted scores that did not accurately reflect learner performance or were filed months past the deadline.
“The Board will apply appropriate measures to ensure that continuous assessment processes are monitored and scores are reliable,” he said.
Despite the challenges, Prof. Obua congratulated successful candidates and assured that those who did not qualify would have their continuous assessment and project scores carried forward, reducing the need to repeat Senior Three. He pledged rigorous nationwide monitoring and evaluation to ensure adherence to CBC guidelines and safeguard the credibility of Uganda’s national examinations.
