The recently released Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE) results have once again placed science at the centre of Uganda’s education debate.
Science subjects performed strongly, with Biology posting particularly high grades. Many schools report a sharp rise in learners choosing science combinations at Senior Five, and in some, science students now make up nearly three-quarters of the intake.
Even more encouraging is the growing participation of girls, a sign that the long-standing gender gap in science is gradually narrowing. Sustaining this trend will require continued investment in girl-friendly learning environments, female science role models, and targeted mentorship.
It is worth noting, however, that strong results do not automatically mean science teaching has transformed. In many schools, science combinations attract students who already performed well at O-Level.
Some of these results may, therefore, reflect the calibre of learners selected into science rather than a wholesale change in classroom practice. This calls for caution in how the results are interpreted without diminishing the achievement itself.
PROGRESS IN SCIENCE IS WORTH CELEBRATING
Nevertheless, the progress in science is a development worth celebrating. For years, government has invested political energy, public messaging and financial resources in promoting science education.
Programmes such as the Secondary Education Science and Mathematics Teachers (SESMAT) Programme have played a major role in improving science teaching.
The National Development Plan III prioritised science education as a key driver of industrialisation and job creation, a recognition that human capital and economic transformation must move together. The message is finally bearing fruit. Parents are listening. Teachers are responding. Learners are adjusting their ambitions.
GOOD SCIENCE GRADES: WHERE WILL THESE GRADUATES WORK?
Uganda should resist the temptation to measure success only by examination grades and enrolment figures. A country does not transform simply because more students pass Biology, Chemistry, Physics or Mathematics.
Real transformation comes when graduates find work that matches their training and when the economy absorbs their skills. Without that connection, today’s science boom could easily become tomorrow’s frustration.
Where will the thousands of young Ugandans now choosing science pathways work? Which laboratories, hospitals, factories and innovation hubs are being prepared for them? These are not rhetorical questions.
They are planning obligations that government, the private sector and civil society must answer together. Producing more science graduates without expanding the sectors that need them is a recipe for unemployment and disappointment.
Health facilities must be expanded to absorb doctors, nurses and laboratory personnel. Industrialisation must be accelerated to create room for engineers and technicians. Investment in research and innovation must move from rhetoric to reality, with timelines, budgets and accountability.
WHY THE ARTS SHOULD NOT BE LEFT BEHIND?
It is critical that Uganda promotes science in a way that does not devalue the arts.
The current salary structure for instance tells the story: when science teachers earn significantly more than their arts counterparts, the message to learners is clear — arts subjects are worth less, yet no country can function on scientists alone.
Economists manage policy choices. Lawyers protect justice. Accountants safeguard financial systems. Teachers, administrators and development practitioners remain central to nation- building.
A nation that produces scientists who cannot navigate policy, law or economics is building on an incomplete foundation. National development is not a competition between science and arts; it is a call for balance.
When the engineer consults the economist and the doctor works alongside the administrator, that is when a country truly develops.
WHAT IS THE WAY FORWARD?
Government needs to align education policy with industrial policy and labour-market realities, planning for the graduates it is producing, not the economy it had a decade ago. Vocational and technical pathways must be strengthened alongside academic science.
International partnerships and exchange programmes must be expanded so that learners access modern technologies and global best practice. The arts subjects and disciplines should also be defended, resourced and valued as equal partners in the national development.
The real test of Uganda’s science success is not what happens in the examination hall. It is what happens in the coming decades. In the laboratory that is funded, the factory that is built, the hospital ward that is staffed, and the policy office that is guided by evidence.
Passing an exam opens a door. What matters is what lies on the other side. Uganda has made a serious investment in its young scientists. It now owes them a serious plan.
The writer is an Economist Associate at Blueprint Consortium Africa and an Assistant lecturer at the School of Economics, Makerere University.
Good question here. To start with is whether all the current scientists are absorbed in the field. How many doctors are still waiting for placement? How many tech engineers are now trading in foods? (I have 3 that now deal in general merchandise). How many agriculturalists and vet doctors are moving around small holder farms looking to offer service or even created businesses but have no market? How many enterprises can absorb our mechanical engineers? And how many civil engineers can find construction work? The trend is now that science training institutions for even certificate courses are charging more than university level tuition. And they mushrooming everywhere. We will end up with so many scientists whom we can’t absorb resulting into qualified medical doctors returning to alternative medicine.
Good analysis Paul.