Govt says it has halted publishing learners photos and exam results

KAMPALA, UGANDA | THE INDEPENDENT | The Ministry of Education has prohibited schools, media outlets, and other personnel from publishing student’s examination results and photos citing the violation of data protection and privacy laws. For years, schools, parents, and the media have advocated for the publication of candidate’s results, particularly those who perform exceptionally well.

Schools often viewed this as an advertising tool to showcase their educational success, while media outlets, used these publications to drive readership and viewership. On examination release days, both online and print media were often flooded with photos of schools and students, highlighting their performances, with some institutions even purchasing advertising space.

Parents joined in by sharing their children’s results on social media platforms, while schools displayed the results on posters and notice boards in public spaces. However, this practice has now come to an end. During the release of last year’s Uganda Certificate Examination-UCE results, the Minister of Education Janet Museveni said that the Office of Personal Data Protection has drawn UNEB to the provisions within the Data Protection and Privacy Act, Cap 97 that prohibits the publication of personal data of children.

“As such, UNEB has been informed by the Personal Data Protection Office “that publicly disclosing the names, photographs, and individual grades of learners on boards or other publicly accessible platforms exposes such learners to harassment, stigma, and emotional distress.” Over the past year, the public display of students’ academic results has had a profound and often negative effect on learners.

Many students, particularly those with lower scores, have struggled with the emotional weight of comparing their achievements to those of their peers, leading to distressing outcomes such as self-harm and even suicide.  A striking example of this occurred in 2021 when a 15-year-old girl from Bwikya Muslim Primary School in Hoima City, who had sat for the Primary Leaving Examination (PLE), was found hanging from a jackfruit tree near her home.

In a suicide note discovered after her death, she expressed her pain over being mocked by classmates for her academic performance. This tragic incident highlights the severe impact that public displays of students’ results can have on the learners.  Throughout the years, child psychologists, educationists, and data privacy advocates had called on the government to take action and curb the practice of publicly sharing students’ academic results. However, the Ministry of Education remained silent—until now.

Following the decision to halt the sharing of such information, the Education Minister has advised schools and school owners to explore alternative methods of communicating examination outcomes without compromising students’ privacy. The Minister emphasized the importance of safeguarding personal learner information and data in any form of result sharing.

Additionally, the Minister directed the Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) and other Examination and Assessment Agencies under the Ministry of Education and Sports, alongside the Permanent Secretary, to collaborate with the Data Protection and Privacy Office. This collaboration aims to ensure a deeper understanding of the guidance provided on complying with the Data Protection and Privacy Act, as well as its associated regulations, in managing assessment and examination results.

“Thereafter, the Permanent Secretary shall formally communicate to all Education Institutions of learning by way of a Circular on how to always ensure the privacy of individual learner’s results.  For now, in keeping with the Data Protection and Privacy Act, Cap 97 and its regulations, Schools and Institutions of learning should desist from all forms of public display of individual learner academic results,” she noted.

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