Parents urged to let students do combinations of their wish at A’ level

14 February 2025, 10:25 am

By Ronald Ssemagonja

Whenever the Ministry of Education and Sports releases the results of the Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE), the next thing that happens to every learner is finding ways to get a combination of his or her choice according to the results obtained. However, many learners face challenges when it comes to this because they are forced by their parents to do what they never wanted to do, ending up taking combinations of their parents’ choice, hence performing poorly in the end.

It is against this background that the Deputy in charge of Academics at Our Lady of Africa Secondary School in Mukono district, Mr. Wasajja Richard, appealed to parents and guardians to sit with their children to decide on which combination they should take at the Advanced Level (A’ Level).

“It is good for a parent to discuss with their children to see the fitting combination a learner can take, rather than forcing them to do what the parents want because, at the end of it all, it is the learner who will face challenges in the combination he or she never wanted,” Wasajja said.

According to Wasajja, the school performed very well, and he is grateful to God that none of their students failed.

“We thank God that our learners performed well in the recently released UCE 2024 results. By God’s grace, all our learners passed in Division One. We never had anyone in other grades. About 318 learners were exceptional. Outstanding students were 120 in grade B, and in grade C, there were 730 learners. Among our best learners, we had four with 8 As and Bs, four with 7 As, and 730 students with Cs. I think this good performance is attributed to the teamwork within teachers, the teamwork between teachers and students, and the teamwork of the management of this mighty institution. Another reason is that at Our Lady of Africa Secondary School, Mukono, we treasure God, and our students know that. So, we cannot forget our God for being on our side because He has never disappointed us,” he said.

He continued to say that being a new curriculum, they look at it as a curriculum that empowers learners to get opportunities for hands-on experience so that, at the end of their cycle, at least a learner can do something even if he or she has not continued with studies.

“Hands-on experience is very good, and we thank the National Curriculum Development Centre for this. We use this opportunity to encourage parents and guardians to give us their children; they will never be disappointed because our teachers are very committed to ensuring that all learners leave this place well facilitated in terms of academics. However, admissions for A’ Level are available for students who managed to get an A or B in all subjects so that this learner is able to love the combination he or she decided to take. But in other classes, anyone qualifies apart from Senior Six,” Wasajja said.

In the same manner, the Director of St. Johns Secondary School in Mukono district, Hon. Muyanja Senyonga, attributed the performance of the learners, who all passed in Division One, to God Almighty and the hard-working staff.

“I thank God for enabling our students to pass in Division One. None of them failed. Regarding the new curriculum, it is good; however, it is very demanding because you need to have a bigger space where students can do hands-on training. Another thing is that you need to have enough equipment, such as sewing machines, among others. Therefore, we appeal to the government to ensure that they increase the support they give to schools. We also thank the inspectors of schools who started inspecting schools in Mukono district to find out how prepared schools are for the new curriculum,” he said.

The Headteacher of St. Janan School, Kabalagala Campus in Kampala district, Mr. Mwebe Emmanuel, also expressed appreciation to God for the overwhelming results of their learners who sat last year.

“All our learners did very well, and none of them is going to miss a UNEB certificate and transcript. We want to assure the nation that the students we produce each year are of good quality,” he said.

It should be remembered that the Ministry of Education and Sports, during the release of the UCE 2024 results a few days ago, confirmed that the selection exercise for Senior Five learners will be held from February 20th to 21st, 2025, and Term One will begin on March 3rd, 2025.