The Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) has taken concrete steps to address the concerns raised by many schools regarding the issue of fees defaulters accessing examination results. UNEB's Executive Director, Dan Odongo, has acknowledged past system challenges and emphasized that all candidates should be allowed to sit exams, irrespective of their fee payment status.
The move comes in response to complaints that UNEB's system was not effectively blocking defaulters from accessing their results, causing frustrations among schools and educators. Mr. Odongo acknowledged that past system glitches allowed some candidates to access their results despite outstanding fee balances. To rectify this, UNEB recently updated and upgraded its system.
While empathizing with candidates who face restrictions due to unpaid fees, Mr. Odongo highlighted the financial burden placed on schools for teaching and preparing these students. Over the years, schools have faced public outcry for barring registered candidates from taking exams over unpaid fees, with some learners refusing to clear their debts even after taking their exams.
In the past, schools used examination results as leverage to ensure fee clearance, but UNEB introduced SMS services as an alternative for candidates to obtain their results. Schools were given the option to collaborate with UNEB to block defaulters from the SMS service by sharing their names through the UNEB portal.
However, there have been instances where this process did not work as intended, eroding trust among some schools and leading them to block candidates with outstanding balances from taking exams. Schools also complained that results of defaulting students were occasionally shared with other schools during the national selection and placement process, allowing students with outstanding fees to access their results.
To address these concerns, Dan Odongo revealed that UNEB is actively working to ensure that the results of defaulting students are not shared during the national selection and placement processes, which occur after the release of exam results.
With these initiatives in place, Mr. Odongo emphasized that schools have no justification for blocking registered candidates from taking their exams. He reminded them that the new UNEB Act now considers denying a student the opportunity to take an exam due to unpaid school fees as an offense, as it disrupts the national examination process. Notably, a headteacher in Kampala recently faced charges and was remanded for blocking S4 candidates on these grounds.
The issue of school fees was a significant concern during the briefing of primary seven candidates, with schools like Decorous Nursery and Primary School in Kawempe allowing learners with unpaid fees to sit for their exams, with parents agreeing to a payment schedule. These students' names will be shared with UNEB for further action.
In addition to addressing fees concerns, UNEB issued an advisory to local government authorities regarding the importance of their role in ensuring a seamless distribution of the Primary Leaving Examination (PLE) papers. Local governments play a pivotal role in overseeing the distribution of papers from storage facilities to examination centers.
Mr. Odongo stressed the sensitivity of the distribution process and called upon local governments to provide the necessary logistics for secure and trusted transportation mechanisms. He urged local governments to carefully select individuals with the required credentials to ensure accountability in the distribution role, as entrusting individuals without necessary qualifications has risked the integrity of examination papers in the past.
UNEB has been actively combating examination leakage, and the distribution process has remained a vulnerable point that unscrupulous schools have exploited. The distribution process has been a target for those trying to obtain examination content illicitly, especially in rural areas where storage facilities have been vulnerable to early openings, with culprits sharing examination content through social media.
UNEB's efforts to combat malpractice have been bolstered by new legislation imposing severe penalties on those found guilty of such activities. Suspects have been actively pursued, leading to numerous court appearances and convictions.
To ensure the smooth conduct of PLE, UNEB has enlisted the assistance of district monitors, scouts, chief invigilators, and a significant number of security personnel across the country to support the exercise and safeguard the examination, field officers, and candidates.
In this year's Primary Leaving Examination (PLE), a total of 749,347 candidates were registered from 14,442 examination centers, including 69 candidates from Upper Prison School Luzira and 2,580 candidates with special needs. Females represented 52% of the candidate pool, while males made up the remaining 48%. A majority of the examination centers, 79%, were Universal Primary Education (UPE) schools, accommodating 70% of the candidates, while the remaining 21% were classified as Non-UPE centers, hosting 30% of the candidates.
