Over ten thousand (10.000) scouts have been deployed in the field by Uganda examination board (UNEB) to conduct supervision and monitoring of the primary leaving examination (PLE) due to take place on Monday 5th and Tuesday 6th November 2018.
While addressing a press conference at UNEB offices in Ntinda, UNEB secretary general Daniel Dongo,noted that this has been done to ensure maximum protection of exams from any form of malpractice that is likely to occur especially in schools of Wakiso and Kasese district. ‘’As UNEB, we have already received information from our sources in the field indicating that there some schools in Wakiso and Kasese that have intentions and plans to cheat the exams’’ Odongo said.
A total of 671923 candidates have been registered to take the examination from 13072 centers as compared to 646041 from 12751 centers in 2017. This represents an increase of 25882(3.9%).
Of the above mentioned total, male candidates are 324960 and Female are 346963. 476131 candidates are coming from universal primary education schools well as 195792 are non UPE.
The distribution of examination material will be done using 26 routes being escorted by military police and officers from the field force unit of Uganda police will also be available to continue providing security on all the routes to ensure that the materials are safe.
Odongo also noted that UNEB has also instituted measures to escort question papers from storage stations to sitting centers. District officials handling the examination management must ensure that this is done.
‘’The briefing of the candidates is set tomorrow Friday 2nd in all the examination centers and we wish to warn all schools that no further teaching at night or at any other time is permitted after the briefing of candidates. Schools that will be found involved will face severe sanctions” Odongo added.
He further warned schools against acts of malpractice in the examination, making an appeal to district authorities where large numbers of results were cancelled last year to give candidates a chance to write their own examination.
Speaking at the same press conference, Rose Nabukenya Mukasa, the principal examination office at UNEB has advised head teachers and P.7 teachers to make sure that the candidates are carefully briefed to follow the instruction and also encourage Parents to attend these briefing where possible.
She added that only candidates with special needs will be allowed 45 extra minutes for each paper and no calculators or mobile phones will be allowed in and around examination room.
Candidates are urged to arrive at the examination center or school at least 30 minutes before the examination starts.
Unlike in the past where students have been writing the name of their schools on question paper, this time no candidate will be allowed to write the name of his or her school, candidates will use Education management information system (EMS) numbers instead of the school names.
Nabukenya said this has been done to ensure that during marking of the examination, people carrying this exercise do it without bias or favoring some schools.
On the same note, ASP Kayima Emillian, the police spokes person has noted that police is ready for the exercise and warns whoever plans to involve in any form of crime especially those selling fake examination to get ready for prosecution.
He further warned parents to be prepared for protecting children from committing any form of crime in communities after exams.
‘’After the examination what is going to happen? Children are going to come home. Parents need now to have a feel of what teachers have been doing, so parents need to be prepared these are still young children you need to guide them so that they don’t lose opportunity of progressing to secondary schools because of what could occur to them during the long holiday’’ Emillian added.