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Lightning, tear gas, rains disrupt PLE as 37-year-old man turns up
Charles Kajubu, 37, awaits checking with the rest of the pupils before sitting for the examinations at Mpumbu Primary School in Kabarole District yesterday. PHOTO BY GEOFFREY MUTEGEKI ARAALI.
What you need to know:
The morning paper did not start on time in many rural areas as examinations were delivered late because of the floods that cut off the roads. Many officials had to use boats to transport the papers.
Nationwide
A myriad of disruptions, some natural, others man-made, conspired to disrupt the first day of Primary Leaving Examinations around the country yesterday.
In Mityana District, five candidates missed their examinations after being struck by lightning that hit the school on Sunday as they held a preparatory parade. The incident at Nakaseeta Primary School affected 10 children, five of whom were candidates. They missed the Mathematics and Social Studies exams.
In Katakwi, officials said exams were delivered late as flooded roads made movement difficult. District chairperson Robert Ekongot said they had to hire boats after road transport became impossible. A number of schools received the examination material at around 11:00am long after the official 9:00am starting time.
A demonstration in Kibaale about the poor state of roads in the district and a tree that fell across the main highway to Kyenjojo sparked off a demonstration by drivers in the main town of Kagadi and paralysed transport that also affected delivery of the examination papers and movement of both candidates and supervisors.
The demonstration later turned chaotic after heavily armed Anti-riot Police fired tear gas and gun shots to remove barricades that had been erected by the rioters on the roads.
Riot affects 40 schools
The acting district education officer, Mr John Kyaboona, said about 40 schools in Buyaga West Constituency were affected by the riot, adding that exams in the affected areas commenced between 9.30 am and 10am instead of 9am.
In Lamin-Anoo in Gulu, examination officials received examination papers as late as 11:30am, forcing candidates to start examinations about two hours late.
The District Inspector of Schools, Mr Robinson Oboth, said some of the schools could not start exams on time because their roads were impassable due to heavy rains. “In Gulu, the papers all reached but others received late because we had to use higher vehicles to transport the papers since some smaller vehicles got stuck,” Mr Oboth said.
Although a truck carrying PLE materials to Masaka and Rakai districts overturned on Sunday, there were no incidences reported during the examination except for the three officials on it, who were seriously injured.
Mr Chrysostom Kibeti, the UNEB deputy secretary in charge of primary education, said a rescue team had been dispatched but denied allegations that the papers had leaked. “...we sent the rescue team and the papers were guarded. Am not aware that they were stolen at the scene of the accident but we are waiting for a report from Police,” Mr Kibeti told Daily Monitor.
In Kabarole, apart from disruptions caused by bad roads to schools in rural areas, attention was focused on Charles Kajubu, a 37-year-old pupil who turned up in a clean, well pressed uniform to sit the exams for his first academic paper at Mpumbu Primary School about eight kilometers from Fort Portal town on Kijura Road. Kajumbu said he was happy to be sitting his PLE 25 years later after he missed his first trial in 1987 when he fell sick.
“I was about to sit for exams at Kitumba Primary School in 1987 and I got measles two days to exams and I couldn’t do them. I missed that year and I never got any other chance of going back to school until this year,” he told Daily Monitor.
In Soroti Municipality, two girls, who were registered to sit at Fr. Hilders Primary School failed to show up for the exams.
One of the inspectors in the area, Mr Samuel Oyaba said another pupil at Pamba Primary School had also sat for exams with a two-weeks-old baby. In Ngora District, 34 pupils could not sit for examinations because they had either been found to be pregnant or married off by their parents.
Floods wreck havoc
In Katakwi, where several schools in the villages have been affected by floods, the exams had to be delivered under serious hardship. “The road to Magoro has been cut off and we had to hire a boat to deliver the papers,” the district chairperson, Mr Robert Ekongot, said.
General delays were reported in Hoima due to late delivery of materials on account of bad roads
Mr Charles Kinimi, the inspector of schools, said most examination distributors started their work from rural schools where roads are impassable and were struggling to make it on time in town.
Pupils sitting for PLE in Kamuli Town were forced to walk under the heavy rains to their various schools. The Kamuli district Inspector of Schools Mr Ibrahim Kanakuli said although there was a delay in delivery of the exams due to wrong packaging, all schools were able to do the exam.
