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Uneb briefs 749, 000 pupils today as PLE exams kick off
Primary school candidates attend class in Jinja City in 2021. PHOTO/DENIS EDEMA
Uganda National Examinations Board (Uneb) will today brief 749, 811 Primary Seven candidates ahead of their national examinations on Tuesday.
The briefing conducted by the schools’ respective head teachers will take the candidates through the dos and don’ts during the two-day exercise.
Mr Dan Odongo, the Uneb executive secretary, yesterday told Daily Monitor that they registered more candidates in the most turbulent times when schools were abruptly closed in March over coronavirus outbreak and reopened in a phased manner seven months later starting with the candidate classes.
Mr Odongo said Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE) candidature increased by 7.8 per cent and are trying to establish why the numbers went up by almost 50,000 pupils.
“I am only worried about these two days of PLE. The weather has been good so far. We are on our knees asking the Almighty to spare our candidates. About 50, 000 more candidates for PLE registered. People were fearing they will drop out because of Covid-19 and lockdown but it didn’t happen. We were surprised to have such a huge candidature. The increase is larger than the normal years. We have decided to do a study and see what is the cause of this,” Mr Odongo said in an interview.
This newspaper has established that some parents whose children were in Primary Six were registered when Uneb carried out this year’s exercise.
“We have also heard some parents are registering their children who were in P6 because they are already growing up. It is possibly true because the increase in candidature for girls is quite significant. About 53 per cent of the candidates are girls and boys are 47 per cent. Our research department is trying to analyse the data to see what exactly happened,” Mr Odongo said.
Speaking during special prayers for PLE candidates at Kampala Parents School, Fr Joseph Luzindana asked Primary Seven candidates to put God first while doing exams.
“We thank the almighty who has helped us pass through the pandemic and also survive because several have passed on but the same God has enabled us come this day. We pray that our pupils pass the exams,” he said.
In Jinja, school administrators complained about inadequate preparedness due to the pandemic.
Primary Seven candidates will start with Mathematics and Social Studies, before winding up with Integrated Science and English on Wednesday.
Mr Bernard Kabambwe, the Iganga Municipal Council school inspector, told Daily Monitor on Wednesday that he is being bombarded with questions on pupils’ preparedness for the forthcoming examinations.
“The pupils will be assessed based on what they have covered from Primary One to Primary Seven and so are those in Senior Four (what they covered from Senior One) and Senior Six (what they covered from Senior Five).
Background
In March last year, government closed all schools and tertiary institutions to combat the spread of coronavirus. Government, however, reopened them for candidates and later semi-candidate classes, with other classes set to report in a staggered manner.
According to some school administrators, the pupils were not tested because it would take a lot of time marking the scripts; but based on the little exercises they were given, the schools have a very positive recommendation that they will perform well. Meanwhile, 845 PLE pupils from Lira District did not return to school when they were reopened in October.
Compiled By Patience Ahimbisibwe, Patrick Ebong, Shabibah Nakirigya, Philip Wafula & Charity Akullo
