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Uneb to start hearing cases of withheld exam results
Mr Daniel Odongo, the UNEB Executive Secretary during the release of UACE results in August. PHOTO | UGANDA MEDIA CENTRE
What you need to know:
- There are 3,612 students whose results were withheld over malpractice.
The Uganda National Examinations Board (Uneb) will from tomorrow start hearing the cases involving 3,612 students whose results were withheld over malpractice.
Uneb withheld 2,220 results of pupils who sat for the 2020 Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE), 1,292 results of students who sat for Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) and those of 100 who sat for the Uganda Advanced certificate of education (UACE).
The Uneb executive secretary, Mr Dan Odongo, told Daily Monitor in an interview that they were still working out the modalities of conducting the hearings.
“Some of the students come from as far as Bundibugyo, Ntoroko and Buliisa. So we are still working out how safely to transport these students. Remember we have the restriction of the curfew. They can only travel within a period of time,” Mr Odongo said yesterday.
“However tentatively, we have scheduled to hear these cases from September 2,” he added.
According to Mr Odongo, the students, who will be found innocent, will have their results released and those who will be found guilty will have theirs cancelled.
In the past, Uneb would release names of schools and students whose results would be withheld.
However, the board stopped releasing the lists to the public after heads of school complained that this was traumatising students and schools, who would later be found innocent.
While releasing the PLE results in July, Mr Odongo said the largest number of the withheld 2,220 cases were from districts in Rwenzori Sub-region.
Mr Odongo also revealed that security operatives in Nakasongola and greater Masaka areas arrested people who were entrusted with delivering the examination papers to examination centres, but opened them in order to access the questions.
The common cases of malpractice the board reported were external assistance, collusion among students, impersonation and exchanging scripts.
According to Uneb, they are likely to start with cases of PLE and UCE to ensure that those who are cleared report to schools once they are reopened.
The suspected students are supposed to appear before the Uneb examinations security committee for interrogation.
