The Ministry of Education and Sports in Uganda has announced the shelving of plans to implement a new curriculum for the Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE) next year. This decision was communicated by Ms. Janet Kataha Museveni, the Minister of Education and Sports, during the release of the 2023 Uganda Certificate of Education results at Nakasero State Lodge.
Ms. Museveni explained that despite the ministry’s initial efforts to review the current A-Level curriculum, they have decided to prioritize the implementation of the new Lower Secondary Level Curriculum instead.
Over the past few financial years, the government has invested approximately Shs130b in developing and rolling out the revised Lower Secondary Curriculum. Ms. Museveni emphasized the need for additional resources to ensure proper implementation of the revised lower secondary curriculum in schools.
The revised lower secondary curriculum, activated by the government in 2020, aimed to reduce the number of subjects from 23 to 20 and introduce competency-based learner-centered learning.
The proposed A-Level curriculum included reforms such as allowing students to repeat only the subjects they failed, extending the study period to five years, and vocationalizing upper secondary education.
Ms. Museveni confirmed that the Uganda National Examinations Board (Uneb) would start assessing Senior Four candidates under the new curriculum this year. Consequently, current Senior Four students would need to transition to Senior Five next year using the new A-Level curriculum.
Despite the delay in implementing the new A-Level curriculum, Ms. Museveni assured that the progression of learners from the revised lower Secondary Curriculum to A-Level would not compromise their subject combinations or academic grounding for higher education.
The Ministry of Education’s stance is to consolidate the implementation of the revised lower secondary curriculum before considering an overhaul of the A-Level curriculum. Ms. Museveni emphasized the necessity of wise resource allocation and avoiding disruptions to the education sector amidst limited resources.
