Spectre of cheating looms ahead of national exams

National examinations get underway on October 18 with the ogre of cheating looming large. This year, 911879 candidates are set to sit for the national examinations compared to 885,190 last year.
Educationists are, however concerned that leakages and other malpractices are hurting the quality of graduates of primary, secondary and vocational institutions. Over the years, UNEB exams have been marred by incompetent organisation, leakage of papers and impersonation. Papers are reportedly sold before the examinations and cases of fraud normally include impersonation, school assistance and bribery.

In 2006, results of 2,000 students were cancelled. Some teachers and officials were arrested. People who were found trading in exams were arrested. Last year, 15 schools had their O’ level results cancelled by over alleged involvement in malpractices, affecting over 1,240 candidates. The same fate befell hundreds of pupils who wrote their PLE and UACE bringing the number of affected pupils and students to 2,812.

Preventive measures
The Uganda National Examinations Board says it is leaving no stone unturned in efforts to ensure fraud-free exams for candidates. “We have made many adjustments in our system and we hope to pull off a fraud-free examination season this time round,” UNEB publicist Ms Eve Konde told Education Guide last week. She says UNEB has prevented exam leakages at the printing stage through heightened vigilance. “The last case (of exam leakage) we had occurred at some station (Police) not at our printery. And we consider this as a step forward in eliminating this problem,” she says. “Every year some schools tend to exploit loopholes in the system to cheat but we warn them that the law will catch up with them and punishments will be severe this time.”

Continuous assessment
Education analyst Mr Charles Makanga Ssendegeya says the exam leakages are still rampant and recommends the use of an alternative way of evaluating students performance other than final year examinations.“We acknowledge someone basing on how they performed in final exams and at some stage, like A’ level, the exams are seen to determine the persons future, so this forces one to do whatever it take to get good grades,” he says.

National exams start on October 18 with 264,635 students sitting their Uganda Certificate of Education examinations. A total of 519,246 pupils will later sit their Primary Leaving Examinations on November 2-3 followed by 106,553 students who will write their Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education examinations on November 15. Another 21445 students will sit technical exams. Ssendegeya wants schools to devise better teaching techniques for students. “We need to put our heads together as stakeholders and map a way forward. Exam fraud is a crime and whoever cheats is no different from one who counterfeits money, ” she says.

Of the 264,635 students due to sit UCE exams, about 104,000 are beneficiaries of the Universal Secondary Education programme. The government recently directed UNEB to relax requirements for Senior 4 candidates in a bid to contain likely pressure from beneficiaries of the USE programme. For example, whereas UNEB demands that exam centres must have single-seater desks equivalent to the number of candidates at the school, the ministry advises that the rule does not have to be observed to the letter. Schools implementing the USE programme will also be required to close during the examination period to create space for the candidates.

Teachers speak out
Ms Anita Patience, the deputy head teacher of Kotido SS , one of the few good performing schools in Karamoja sub region says poor preparation of candidates in some schools should be blamed for the vice. She said failure to complete the syllabus leads to panic for fear of failing exams. “I think many schools especially those in rural areas resort to cheating because of this predicament. But thank God in Karamoja where we face numerous educational challenges we strive to complete the syllabus and we don’t cheat,” says. While many people seem to point an accusing finger at mushrooming private schools, directors in such institutions argue that the vice can occur anywhere.

Mr John Bosco Mujumba, Chairman Uganda Private Educational Institutions Association, says there are people who have commercialised education and think their institutions can only become famous when students acquire better grades in final exams.“Such directors and teachers do all sorts of misdeeds such as smuggling materials in examination rooms and collusion so that their schools perform better. We condemn such acts,” he said. “This time, we are determined to eliminate all misdeeds. In collaboration with UNEB and the Ministry, we have set up tribunals to deal with culprits. Any school found guilty will be closed for five years and its license withdrawn,” he said.