Two candidates give birth before UCE exams

The Uganda National Examinations Board (Uneb) has disclosed that two Senior Four candidates gave birth shortly before their Chemistry and Physics exams on Monday and Tuesday, respectively.

Ms Jenipher Kalule, the Uneb principal communications officer, stated that one of the candidates, hailing from Kibaale District, delivered a healthy baby boy about one hour before her examination.

The young mother is said to have named her newborn after Uneb Executive Director Daniel Odongo and managed to sit her Physics paper.

“The candidates delivered at 8am in the morning and shortly after, went to schools to write her next paper, scheduled for 9am,” said Ms Kalule.

The second candidate, from Gulu, delivered via Caesarean section on Monday night and then appeared on Tuesday morning to write her Chemistry exam.

Addressing journalists at the Uneb headquarters, Mr Odongo revealed that the two bring the total number of candidates who have given birth since UCE exams began last week to three.

One candidate in a school in Kampala gave birth to a baby girl last Thursday and subsequently continued with her exams.
 “According to the manual on the conduct of examinations, all these candidates qualify for an extra 45 minutes offered to special needs candidates. In case of these mothers, they are expected to take off time in the middle of the examination to breastfeed their babies,” Ms Kalule said.

Initially, some schools were refusing pregnant candidates from sitting for their exams.
However, Ministry of Education officials last year directed all schools with pregnant candidates to permit them to take their exams, provided they had registered for them.

This was done to reduce the school dropout rate among girls, which had been a significant challenge for the country.

The candidates who began sitting their UCE exams last week will take Biology in the morning and Agriculture Principles and Practices in the afternoon today. They are scheduled to complete their exams on November 27.