The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Uganda National Examinations Board-UNEB is working with security agencies to apprehend thirty people in connection to examination malpractice at all levels.
The 2020 national examinations started with the Uganda Certificate of Education on February 26, 2021, Primary Leaving Examinations-PLE on March 26, followed by Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education-UACE exams which are still ongoing. However, most of the candidates have completed their papers.
Jennifer Kalule Musumba, the UNEB spokesperson says most of the malpractices are school-based ranging from impersonation where candidates used other people to sit for the exams, copying, collusion and provision of external assistance.
She says that there are also isolated cases where individuals were found vending fake papers to several schools.
Musumba further notes that the board will also set up a committee to assess the level of involvement of several candidates in examination malpractice. Although the candidates might not be arraigned before court, Musumba says there is a way they can as well be punished.
Malpractice remains one of the challenges to the education system in Uganda, and has been attributed to several factors including commercialization of education which results in stiff competition between schools among others.
Over the years, the examination body has been tightening the grip to curb the vice. Among the recent strategies was the introduction of ‘random numbers’ to eliminate malpractice orchestrated during examination marking.
According to UNEB, all suspects who committed offences after April 1, 2021, will be tried under the new UNEB Act 2021. The act provided sanctions ranging from five year’s imprisonment or a fine worth millions or both.
Meanwhile, the process of marking the examination has also commenced at 40 selected schools to ensure that the board releases the results at the appropriate time and enables learners to proceed to their next level of education. 20,000 examiners are expected to take part in the exercise to ensure that the marking process goes on smoothly and timely as planned.
A total of 1,181,940 candidates registered for their final examinations this year. They include 749,807 for Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE), 333,766 for the Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) ,and 98,367 for the Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education-UACE.
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