Uganda, March 11 -- Students in hard-to-reach areas have beaten the odds to post both improved enrolment and results in the just-released 2023 Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE) exams.

The results released last Thursday by Uganda National Examinations Board (Uneb) show that 52,452 candidates got three Principal Passes required for admission to university, representing 47.9 percent. In the 2022 UACE exams, 43.5 percent of the candidates scored three Principal Passes.

In the island district of Kalangala, Bishop Dunstan Nsubuga S.S., one of the two secondary schools with Senior Six had six of its 14 candidates scoring 14 points and above. This can earn them government sponsorship at university, and would be the first of such a...