The Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) has released the timetables for the 2024 final examinations.
This is the first time that UNEB will examine candidates under the New Lower Secondary Curriculum (NLSC) for the award of the Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE).
“Unlike previously when there were three sets of examinations, UNEB will this time round conduct four examinations (4Es), the UCE examination based on the NLSC and the UCE (transitional examination), based on the old curriculum,” Dan Odongo, the UNEB executive director, said on Monday.
Odongo revealed that the transitional examination is aimed at allowing those who needed to repeat or those that missed the examination in 2023 for various reasons.
“This is a one-off examination under the old curriculum,” Odongo said.
The other examinations are the Primary Leaving Examination (PLE) and the Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE) examination.
UCE will commence on October 11 with a briefing till November 15, 2024, while PLE will start with a briefing on November 4 and end on November 7.
Candidates sitting for UACE begin with a briefing on November 8 to December 6.
Odongo noted that this year’s exam theme is: Embracing Security and Holistic Learners in a Dynamic Environment.
Odongo revealed that a total of 1,320,400 candidates have registered for the Four Examinations (4Es), adding that UNEB has registered an increase of 7.8% of students compared to last year’s candidature of 1,224,371.
Females outnumber males
“Of the total candidature, 51.1% are females, while 48.9% are males. 379,620 of the registered candidates are UCE candidates that include 369,477 for the NLSC and 10,143 for the transitional examination,” Odongo said.
At the UACE level this year, 142,017 candidates registered compared to last year’s 110,579. This reflects an increase by 28.4%.
At the PLE level, the increase stands at 6.6%, with 798,763 candidates registered, compared to 749,371 in 2023.
Of the entire candidature, 4,498 are Special Needs Education (SNE) learners, as compared to 3,698 candidates who registered last year.
The SNE candidates, include 3,295 (PLE), 760, (UCE-NLSC), 38 (Transitional UCE-Old Curriculum), and 405 (UACE). Uganda Prisons (Luzira Upper and Mbarara Main) have registered 108 candidates (107 male and 01 female) for PLE; 39 for UCE (38 male and 01 female).