Janet Museveni releases 2025 UACE results as female candidates outperform males

13 March 2026, 1:19 pm

By Ronald Ssemagonja

The Minister of Education and Sports, Janet Museveni, has today released the 2025 Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education results at State House Nakasero in Kampala.

A total of 166,400 candidates registered for the examinations, compared to 141,996 candidates in 2024. Of the registered candidates, 93,636 were males while 72,764 were females. The Minister congratulated female candidates for performing better than their male counterparts.

The release of the results was attended by several officials including Ministers of State and representatives from the National Curriculum Development Centre.

“I am confident that we have enough institutions to absorb all learners. I continue to encourage them to use that opportunity. I congratulate the girls for the good performance and I am pleased with the number of girls taking sciences. I call upon parents and guardians to take up their responsibilities to nurture their children. I congratulate all candidates who have passed and those who have not been able to either try again or use the available opportunities,” she said.

Meanwhile, the Chairperson of the Uganda National Examinations Board, Celestino Obua, revealed that the board assessed a total of 1,402,434 candidates for certification across different examinations, compared to 1,294,731 candidates in 2024.

“The board continues to observe sustained growth in candidature at the UACE level, reflecting expanded access to Post O’level education and growing public confidence in the credibility of national assessments. The 2025 UACE examinations registered comparatively few cases of examination malpractice, reflecting strengthened supervision mechanisms, enhanced security protocols and greater awareness among candidates and schools regarding the consequences of examination malpractice and irregularities,” he said.

Obua added that where cases of malpractice have been identified, due process will be followed in accordance with Section 38(1) of the UNEB Act Cap 259, and affected candidates will be given fair hearings before final decisions are made. He also noted that the board continues to work closely with district authorities to ensure that institutions and individuals implicated in malpractice face appropriate administrative sanctions.

The Executive Director of UNEB, Dan Odongo, highlighted the overall performance of candidates, noting that female candidates continue to improve each year.

“A total of 540 Special Needs Education candidates registered for the examinations, of which 274 were males and 226 were females. The board also registered 70 candidates from Uganda Government Upper Prison, Luzira, including 66 males and 4 females. A total of 98.9 percent of the candidates who sat for the examinations qualify for the UACE certificate. If the current university admission requirement is maintained, 113,291 candidates qualify to join university, compared to 92,273 candidates in 2024,” he said.

Odongo added that there has been notable improvement in subjects such as Mathematics, Chemistry, Agriculture, Geography and Economics, while Biology and Literature in English also showed improvement.

However, he noted that challenges persist in some humanities subjects where candidates continue to struggle with proper interpretation of questions due to misunderstanding of key concepts. In religious education, application based tasks that require linking teachings from holy books to everyday life situations remain a consistent challenge for many candidates.