UNEB sets tough rules ahead of PLE, UACE exams  

As Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE) kick off today, the Executive Secretary of the National Examinations Board (UNEB), Dan Odongo has warned that invigilators and scouts who will be implicated in examination malpractice will be imprisoned.

While commissioning the 2023 PLE and Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE) examinations at Uganda Media Centre on Tuesday, Mr Odongo said all culprits will be dealt with in accordance with the Uneb Act 2021.

 The examinations are being conducted under the theme; “Integrity and security in the management of examinations is a joint responsibility.”
“It is not going to be business as usual because, Section 26(1) (g) of the Uneb Act now criminalizes that. If you are posted to a center as invigilators, scouts, support personnel or officials who are going to help candidates with special needs and you don’t prevent examination malpractice from happening and the malpractice is proven, then you are also liable. If you are convicted, you may be put away for five years or asked to pay a fine of Shs10 million or both,” he said.

“Coming to Uneb saying yes, I was there but I didn’t see anything yet examination malpractice has been proven, will not stop there. Uneb will apply the law to you as well,” he added.

According to Mr Odongo, 139 District monitors, 11,758 scouts, 10,664 chief invigilators and 30,059 invigilators have been deployed in the field to man PLE centres.
“Section 25(1) and (2) and (4) of the Uneb Act 2021,provides for a maximum of ten year’s imprisonment upon conviction,” he said.

He revealed that there  individuals  who have set up social media platforms and have been collecting money, purportedly to access and supply PLE question papers.
He said security agencies had arrested some of these, while others are on the run.

On the issue of school fees, Uneb asked head teachers and directors of schools to settle school fees issues ahead of examination dates, saying it is criminal offence, under section 30(1) of the Uneb Act 2021 to disrupt an examination by sending away defaulters.
 The Board also encouraged parents to fulfill fees obligation in time.
He said the board will offer assistance to schools with fees defaulters by blocking access to their results.

Odongo also said those who will arrive at examination centres after 15 minutes into the exams will not be allowed to write exams.
CANDIDATES
A total of 749,347 candidate from 14,442 examination centres registered for PLE. Out of these, 391,558 (53 percent) of the total candidature are females 357,789 (48 percent) are males.

A total of 79 candidates are from Luzira Upper Prison while 2,580 candidates were registered to have Special Needs Education (SNE).
Uneb will also avail braille question papers and answer sheets for the blind, large print question papers for those with low vision, sign language interpreters for the deaf and transcribers for learners with dyslexia and those with severe physical impairment (reading and writing challenges).

Candidates with special needs will be given 45 extra minutes for each paper.
At UACE, level, a total of 110,569 candidates registered for the 2023 exams of which 43 percent ( 47, 227) are female while 57 percent( 631,342) are males. A total of 34 candidates are inmates from Luzira Upper Prison ( 4 females and 30 males). UACE examinations will run from November 10, to December 1.