The Ministry of General Education announces that the proportion of candidates who obtained Grade 12 School Certificates in the 2018 examination session decreased by 1.40 percent from 64.84 percent in 2017 to 63.44 percent in 2018.
Minister in charge David Mabumba says this decrease in performance may be attributed to various factors and that one of such factors can be the suspension of the conduct of the examinations.
Mr. Mabumba says the total number of candidates who entered for the 2018 Grade 12 examination was 121,299, of whom 64,202 (52.93%) were boys and 57,097 (47.07%) were girls.
“This represents a decrease in candidature by 10.03 percentage points from 2017. The number of boys entering the examination decreased by 12.35% percent while that of girls increased by 7.26% percent,” he said.
The General Education Minister says of the 121,299 who entered the examination, 119,383 sat the examination comprising 63,172 boys and 56,211 girls.
He says the total number of candidates who were absent from the examination was 1,916, of whom 1, 030 were boys and 886 girls.
“Candidate absenteeism from examination at Grade 12 level marginally increased by 0.11 percentage points from 1.47 percent in 2017 to 1.58 percent in 2018. The highest proportion of candidates absent was recorded in North Western Province at 2.25 percent from 1.90 percent in 2017 while the lowest rate was recorded in Eastern Province at 1.14 percent,” said Mr. Mabumba.
“During the conduct of the 2018 Grade 12 Examination, a total of Seventy seven (77) suspected cases of examination malpractice were reported compared to the Two hundred and seventeen (217) cases reported in 2017.”
Mr. Mabumba states that the cases were in form of smuggling unauthorized materials into the examination room, assistance, prior knowledge, impersonation and copying.
“I would also like to thank the prosecution team and judicial authorities for swift prosecuting and conviction of the six (6) Grade 12 Candidates from Libala Secondary who had engaged in examination malpractice and wanted to illegally benefit from this examination,” he said.
He has emphasized that examination malpractices, no matter what extent or form, remain punishable by law and that all possible offenders will be dealt with accordingly.
“Further analysis on the performance of candidates, reveals that the proportion of boys who obtained School Certificates was higher (65.14%) than that of girls which was 61.53 percent. In view of the above, there is need to intensify holding of annual examinations performance review meetings at national, provincial and district levels,” the minister said.
“Performance according to subjects is as follows: the highest mean percentage was recorded in Silozi (55.51%), while the lowest mean percentage was recorded in Literature in English (21.78%). Comparison of performance in four (4) common subjects namely; English, Mathematics, Biology and Science, showed that the highest proportion of candidates obtaining distinction was in Mathematics (10.46%), followed by English Language (8.80%), Biology (7.37%) and Science (5.93%).”
He says Mathematics also recorded the largest proportion of candidates failing the examination at 41.89 percent.
He adds that performance in the Social Science and Business Studies subjects group, which include Civic Education, Christian Religious Education (Syllabi 2044 and 2046), History, Geography, Commerce and Principles of Accounts showed that, the highest proportion of candidates obtaining Distinctions was in Religious Education syllabus 2044 at 14.33%, followed by Religious Education syllabus 2046 at 11.63% and Civic Education at 8.37%.
“Commerce had the largest proportion of candidates failing (43.13%). Candidate performance in Practical Subjects showed that the highest proportion of candidates obtaining distinctions was in Design and Technology (13.86%), followed by Physical Education (12.46%) and Musical Arts Education (12.33%), said Mr. Mabumba.
“Art and Design and Home Management had the lowest proportions of candidates obtaining distinctions at 4.02 and 7.73 percent respectively. The highest proportions of candidates failing the Practical Subjects was recorded in Physical Education and Design and Technology at 7.94 and 5.83 percent respectively.”

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