education 15 April 2026 Daily Monitor (Uganda)
Confusion Mounts Over Interpreting UCE 2025's New Grading System
The release of Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) 2025 results under the revised secondary curriculum has sparked widespread confusion, complaints, and debates about the new letter-based grading. Schools vary in adaptation, with issues in continuous assessments and public misinterpretation fueling the crisis. Source: https://www.monitor.co.ug/uganda/oped/letters/uce-2025-results-the-crisis-of-interpreting-new-grades-5425264
The Uganda National Examinations Board (Uneb) recently released UCE 2025 results, marking the second year of exams under Uganda’s revised secondary school curriculum introduced in 2024. This shift demands new teaching methods, teacher retraining, and resource allocation, but not all schools adapted equally.
Projects emerged as a standout success for well-prepared schools. Unlike traditional cramming, projects require student discipline, teacher oversight, and skills like time management—challenges for pupils unaccustomed to such tasks.
Continuous assessment marks, submitted before final exams, proved contentious. Schools with irregular attendance or discipline issues scored poorly, while focused environments claimed full marks. Integrity-driven educators complain of ‘free marks’ awarded elsewhere without oversight, as one teacher noted the temptation to inflate scores.
The new grading—from A to E, emphasizing skills and problem-solving over memorization—has baffled the public. Headteachers vaguely claim ‘all students in result one,’ obscuring true performance. Media rankings vary wildly, from average scores to counts of top grades, undermining the goal of reducing cutthroat competition.
Even with bans on showcasing top students, parents and media find workarounds. The author urges Uneb and the Ministry of Education to clarify benchmarks for excellent performance to curb misinformation.
Source: Daily Monitor (Uganda)