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Top schools select S1 students online
Left to right: Treasure Akankwasa (Agg 9), Boniconcil Tushemereirwe (Agg 8), Joy Tindimwebwa (Agg 10), their headmaster (seated) John Bakamwehanga, Wisdom Muruhuura (Agg 8), and Alison Amanyamukama (Agg 9), celebrate their success in PLE with a goat that was given to them at Rwatukwire Day and Boarding Primary School, Bushenyi District . PHOTO/ ZADOCK AMANYISA
What you need to know:
- A total 650,000 students passed the 2020 PLE, with about 10 per cent in First Grade
Top secondary schools in the country are asking parents and guardians to submit applications online in order to secure Senior One slots for their children.
The government is yet to set a date for the national Senior One selection exercise by school heads, usually conducted in Kampala and pronounce itself on re-opening of schools closed in June amid surging Covid-19 infections and deaths.
The application call, circulated on social media, hard-copy public notices and emails, raise questions about the fate of choices the candidates made before taking final Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE).
A total of 650,000 students passed the 2020 PLE, with about 10 per cent in First Grade, making them eligible to progress to the next formal education level.
However, with more students passing than available Senior One slots at particularly top secondary schools, competition for entry is stiff that a number of top scorers are not admitted by first-choice schools.
The decision by some of the schools to open up admission even before considering the choices made by candidates before PLE has alarmed parents and guardians, suspicious that the newcomer online applicants could snap up the vacancies.
Previously, school heads would gather and jointly select the top students that applied to their schools as first choice before PLE and offer out applicants that did not make the admission cut.
“As we wait for the government guidance on the selection and commencement of S.1/2021, those interested in joining Uganda Martyrs’ Secondary School Namugongo should follow the following application process ….” a message posted on the school’s website reads in part.
In a Senior One Application Form notice on its website, the management of Mount St Mary’s Namagunga notes that “it is not business as usual” since the President closed schools last month “therefore, compassionate application for S.1 2021 will be done online”.
The head teacher of Gayaza High School, Ms Robinah Kizito, yesterday said they created the online link for application after they noticed that parents and guardians were anxious.
While releasing the 2020 PLE results at State House in Entebbe last Friday, Education Minister Janet Museveni said government will set the date for Senior One selection after the lockdown has been lifted by government.
The 42-day lockdown that President Museveni imposed on June 18 is to lapse at the end of this month unless extended.
The head teacher of Uganda Martyrs Namugongo, Fr Henry Kasasa, in a circular to parents noted that they have resorted to online application pending formal selection exercise.
According to the procedures, parents and guardians are supposed to download and print the application forms from the school website and pay Shs30,000 application fee.
They are advised to take a picture of the forms, payslip and the result slip and send by email or WhatsApp to numbers provided by the schools.
Similarly, the head teacher of Immaculate Heart Girls School, Sr Gladys Kachope, yesterday said: “Normally when results are out, we wait until selection is over to have entrants, but also before selection, we encourage other applicants to lodge in their application,” Sr Kachope said.
However, other school heads opposed the early online admission.
Ms Nabbanja Masitula, the Nabisunsa Girls Secondary School deputy head teacher, said they cannot start online applications when schools are still closed.
“We are in lockdown; you cannot tell parents to apply online because we do not know the potential parents since these are new students. We are waiting for government guidelines,” Ms Masitula said.
The head teacher of St Henry’s College Kitovu, Mr Augustine Mugabe, said “at the moment, we are not engaged in any activity”.
State Minister of Education John Chrysostom Muyingo, a school proprietor, yesterday said parents are free to express interest in any school they wish their children to join.
“We have allowed Ugandans to take their children where they want. [The] government cannot say ‘no’. We only postponed the selection date and reopening date,” he said.
