The Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) has introduced a new grading system for Senior Four candidates under the recently implemented competency-based curriculum. This change, effective this year, aims to replace the existing numerical distinction, credit, pass, and failure rankings.
Dan Odongo, UNEB’s executive director, announced the new evaluation method during an interview at his office in Kyambogo, a Kampala suburb, on Monday. “The new curriculum is going to recognize competencies, and we are going to grade candidates using letter grades: A, B, C, D, and E,” Odongo stated. Each letter grade will reflect a specific level of competency achievement.
Under this new system, 80 percent of the final mark will come from national examination scores, while continuous assessment will account for the remaining 20 percent. The cumulative mark will be calculated based on year-on-year performance in practical projects filed with UNEB as evidence of acquired hands-on skills.
This change raises questions about how it will impact the criteria for admission to A-Level, vocational, and tertiary institutions, as well as universities. It remains unclear whether secondary and higher education institutions will revise their admissions criteria to align with UNEB’s new skill-based scoring format. Additionally, there are concerns about how the new system will affect Ugandan students applying for further studies abroad.
The current system being phased out involves marking subjects out of 100 percent and converting these scores into bands for distinctions, credits, and passes. Candidates were then placed in Divisions 1 to 4, with those failing to meet the criteria receiving no certificate. Under the new system, UNEB will display alphabetical grades on certificates and detail the corresponding skills on the back. Even the lowest grade, E, will describe the competencies a candidate has acquired.
Odongo emphasized that the new grading system aims to provide a fairer assessment by considering both final exam performance and overall skills acquired during the four years of schooling. “There will be no failures under the new grading system. You don’t walk out with nothing,” he said.
The competency-based curriculum, introduced in 2020 amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, has faced challenges, including a lack of instructional materials. This year, 370,685 students have registered to take the Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) final papers under the new curriculum, with slightly more female candidates than males. Meanwhile, 9,250 candidates will be the last cohort to take exams under the old curriculum.
UNEB is engaging with stakeholders to assess the impact of these changes on higher education. Result slips under the new system will provide detailed scores and descriptions of competencies. UNEB has also developed tools to guide schools in continuous assessment and built a digital platform for recording these scores.
Despite concerns about teacher preparedness, UNEB has trained at least 15 teachers per school for Senior Three and Four classes on the new curriculum. Plans are in place to train more teachers as funds become available, ensuring comprehensive implementation from Senior One to Senior Four.
As UNEB transitions to this new system, several unanswered questions remain regarding the adjustment of intake criteria for higher education and the grading of candidates from schools that have not implemented continuous assessment.
Ranking Under the New Grading System
Previously, UNEB graded candidates as follows:
Division 1: Candidates had to pass a minimum of eight subjects, including English Language with a credit, a humanity subject, Mathematics, and a science subject for non-visually challenged candidates. At least seven of these subjects had to be at credit level or better, with an aggregate for the best eight subjects not exceeding 32.
