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School heads speak on hiking, lowering of senior five cut-off points
Secondary school head teachers converge at Uganda Manufacturers Association (UMA) exhibition hall at Lugogo in Kampala to select senior five students on February 23, 2023. PHOTOS/ FRANK BAGUMA
What you need to know:
- According to the head teachers, the schools are only mandated with submitting the number of the available slots to Uneb to enable the examination body select the best students for the school, depending on the number of candidates who showed interest in joining a given school.
As secondary school head teachers gather at at Uganda Manufacturers’ Association showgrounds in Lugogo, Kampala to select Senior Five (S5) students for their schools today, those who spoke to this publication largely denied having a hand in determining their schools’ cut-off points.
They said they (cut-off points) are entirely determined by the Ministry of Education through the Uganda National Examinations Board (Uneb).
Secondary school head teachers converge at Uganda Manufacturers Association (UMA) exhibition hall at Lugogo in Kampala to select senior five students on February 23, 2023. PHOTOS/ FRANK BAGUMA
According to the head teachers, the schools are only mandated with submitting the number of the available slots to Uneb to enable the examination body select the best students for the school, depending on the number of candidates who showed interest in joining a given school.
Mr Edward Kanonya, the head teacher of Kololo High SS, said: “The school administrator does not participate in determining the cut-off points but it depends on the number of students who applied vis a vis the available slots.”
He added: “The aggregates of the last student out of the available slots (in a given school) becomes its cut-off point for that school.”
During the Uneb registration process for Senior Four candidates, all of them (candidates) are required to register their first, second and third choice schools, which they would wish to join for their Advanced Level of education.
Secondary school head teachers converge at Uganda Manufacturers Association (UMA) exhibition hall at Lugogo in Kampala to select senior five students on February 23, 2023. PHOTOS/ FRANK BAGUMA
Criteria
The head teachers said Uneb uses the academic performance as a yardstick to determine the qualifying students for a given school out of those who applied to that particular school.
Mr Augustine Mugabo, the head teacher of St Henry’s College Kitovu, urged parents to stay calm in case their children are not given placement at their first choice schools, saying such incidents are as a result of limited school capacity.
“A school cannot hike or lower its cut-off points, but it depends on the performance of students in a given year. If students perform better, then the cut-off points look slightly hiked and vice versa,” Mr Mugabo said yesterday.
However, some schools, especially those in the rural areas and a few urban-based not competitive schools, are always left with vacancies for internal admissions due to limited candidates who consider them as their first or second choices.
Mr Andrew Nalumenya, the head teacher of St Andrew Kaggwa SS in Gombe, said these less competitive schools are like referrals of those students who fail to secure placements in their choice schools. He added that the schools are always forced to lower their Uneb cut-off points to take in more students to fill their capacity.
Our efforts to get a comment from UNEB officials on the matter were futile by press time.
