Prime
Uneb seeks more time to phase out old curriculum
Students of Kitante Hill SS pray before they write their Geography Paper I examination on October 16, 2023. PHOTO | STEPHEN OTAGE
What you need to know:
- The Senior Four candidates currently doing their exams are in the last batch of students offering the old curriculum
The Uganda National Examinations Board (Uneb) has revealed that they are seeking to extend the deadline for phasing out the old curriculum by one year.
Addressing journalists in Kampala on Monday, the Uneb spokesperson, Ms Jennifer Kalule, said the move is to aid students who will fail exams this year to have a second chance and do exams next year under the old curriculum.
“This is the first time Uganda is changing the curriculum but we know there are students who fail exams, those who don’t sit for exams due to one reason or the other, and we also have adult learners,” she said.
“So as Uneb, we have written to the Ministry of Education and Sports that they should allow us to have a transition period of one year so that we examine students or learners who have not sat exams this year but have been studying under the old curriculum,” Ms Kalule added.
The Senior Four candidates currently doing their exams are in the last batch of students offering the old curriculum.
According to Uneb, the transition period of phasing out the old curriculum will allow them time to prepare exams for the current S.4 students, who will have missed this year’s sitting.
“That means if they allow us to have a transition period of one year, and prepare their exams, we shall have a few students who will sit exams under the old curriculum, so we are waiting for communication from our heads before we can know what is next,” Ms Kalule said.
Ministry plan
The Ministry of Education and Sports, in 2020, rolled out the new lower secondary curriculum, where schools are supposed to assess learners based on their competencies through activities of integration, and projects.
In the new curriculum, Uneb will partially grade students using marks attained through continuous assessment (class work) when they sit for UCE examinations next year.
According to the curriculum, 20 percent of the final UCE results will come from the continuous assessment done by the schools and submitted to Uneb through a portal and the 80 percent will come from the final exam itself yet initially, learners have been working out of 100 percent in Uneb examinations.
When contacted, Minister of State for Higher Education, Mr John Chrysestom Muyingo, denied knowledge of the request by Uneb.
“I have been away and when I returned, I read all my emails and messages but I haven’t seen that request, maybe the request went to the main minister [the First Lady, Ms Janet Museveni],” Dr Muyingo said in a telephone interview.
