St. Gracious Secondary School in Lira City has achieved a remarkable milestone in the 2025 Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE) results, securing a rank of eighth nationally and emerging as the top-performing school in the entire northern region.
The school’s impressive performance underscores a growing trend of excellence among upcountry institutions.
The results, released on Friday, March 13, 2026, by the Minister of Education and Sports, Janet Museveni, brought outstanding news for the young institution.
Established in 2019, St. Gracious SS saw 25 of its 489 candidates who registered for the UACE exams achieve the prestigious 20-point mark, a significant leap from their previous performance.
The school’s head teacher, Martin Ojok, attributed this success to strategic investment in critical resources. “Achieving such results is not easy without adequate facilities, especially laboratory equipment for the sciences,” Ojok told journalists.
“We are thrilled with this outcome, which marks a massive improvement from the four candidates who scored 20 points in 2024 to the 25 we celebrate this year.”
Beyond the top performers, Ojok detailed the school’s broad-based academic strength, noting excellent results across the board.
Following the 20-point scorers, 18 candidates achieved 19 points, 22 candidates obtained 18 points, and 32 candidates secured 17 points. The strong performance continued with 37 candidates earning 16 points and 45 candidates scoring 15 points.
Providing a further breakdown of the results, Ojok revealed that the culture of success extended deep into the candidate list. A total of 48 candidates attained 14 points, 59 achieved 13 points, 51 scored 12 points, and 36 earned 11 points.
Furthermore, 41 candidates obtained 10 points. He noted that even the school’s lowest-performing candidates, three in total, managed to secure 5 points, ensuring almost all students qualified for their certificates.
While acknowledging the overall success, the head teacher offered a special commendation for the female students. He noted that the girls performed exceptionally well, holding their own against their male counterparts.
Ojok extended his gratitude to the parents, teachers, and candidates for their dedication. “I want to thank all our stakeholders for their hard work and commitment. I also urge all parents to continue supporting their children to reach Senior Six, as education is the key to a prosperous future,” he said.
This year’s performance represents a quantum leap from the 2024 UACE results, where the school had only four candidates with 20 points and 18 with 19 points out of a total of 271 candidates.
Ojok reaffirmed the school’s commitment to sustained excellence, promising that St. Gracious Schools Lira, located in Adaga Ayella, Boke Ward, Lira City East Division, will continue to produce outstanding results.
Among the top-performing students who secured 20 points for St. Gracious are Achar Timothy, Awio Isaac, Amule Robinah, Aguti Vella Owinyo, Amono Ruth, Elyak Isaiah Gira, Alapo Irene, Auma Rose Mary, Akello Hanifa, Acen Danica Ruth, Aping Racheal Clere, Okello Innocent, Oree Hagard, Ogwang Amos, and Aketowanga Sunday Tracy.
On a national scale, the 2025 UACE results saw a record 166,400 candidates registered, a significant 17.2% increase from the 141,996 candidates in 2024. The candidate cohort comprised 72,764 females (43.7%) and 93,636 males (56.3%).
The Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) reported an overall improvement in performance, with a high 98.9% of candidates qualifying for the UACE certificate.
Speaking at the national release of the results, the Chairperson of UNEB, Prof. Celestino Obua, highlighted the continued strong performance of female candidates.
“Female candidates have continued to perform better than their male counterparts, maintaining stronger performance grades in the humanities, and demonstrating lower failure proportions overall.
“This affirms the positive impact of continued investment in girl-child education,” Prof. Obua stated.
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