S6 students stuck over Makerere varsity closure

KAMPALA.

At least 104,361 Senior Six students have been left frustrated as they cannot apply for university government scholarship next year after Makerere University was indefinitely closed before they could get the Public Universities Joint Admission Board (Pujab) forms.

Trinity College Nabbingo headteacher, Ms Nakatte Kikomeko, who doubles as chairperson Secondary Schools Head teachers’ Association, yesterday asked both parents and students to be patient since the matter is beyond their control.

Ms Kikomeko admitted that the schools have equally been inconvenienced by the closure of Makerere University as they will have to find airtime to recall their students when the university re-opens.

Ms Kikomeko assured her colleagues that her team was engaging both the ministry of Education and responsible officials at Makerere University to see how the impasse could be sorted out before end of term.

“Most of our S6 students are completing their exams tomorrow (today). All schools are affected as no student has filled the Pujab forms. I am advising schools to ensure they record contacts of students before they leave for holiday and that all career masters stay around their school premises during the festive season. I am in touch with the ministry of Education and Makerere and [I am] optimistic that something positive comes out by end of this week,” Ms Kikomeko said yesterday.

She is also worried that once the deadlock extends into next year, it would negatively impact public universities’ admission as parents who have the money would opt to take their children to private institutions.

The students currently sitting their final examinations are demanding an explanation from their respective school administrators across the country since they will have to foot the transport costs once they leave without the forms. Each S6 students pays Shs70,000 for the Pujab forms.

The last Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education paper will be done on December 1 with majority students finishing today.

Normally, the students leave school with the forms for LC1 and LC3 signatures to verify their districts of origin. Government sponsors 4,000 students every academic year in the six public universities of Makerere, Mbarara, Kyambogo, Gulu, Busitema, and Muni in Arua. Of the 4,000 students, 3,000 are admitted on academic merit while another 1,000 are admitted on the district quota system.
Makerere University on behalf of ministry of Education has been in charge of public university admission although this privileged status was challenged two years back.

The ministry then instituted a committee comprising representatives from all public universities to oversee the public university admission; pending its legalisation. The Pujab offices are housed at Makerere University Senate building.

Following the stalemate over the Pujab forms, Makerere has written to the Education ministry requesting whether some of the staff from the department of the academic registrar would be recalled to handle the Pujab forms.

Now, Ms Janet Museveni, the Education minister, has allowed the university to recall some of their staff.

“I have noted your request to allow you to urgently recall a skeleton staff from the department of the academic registrar to handle activities of Pujab. I concur that given the role Makerere University plays in coordinating Pujab’s work, moreover, when A-Level examinations are currently ongoing, it is necessary to recall staff involved in this exercise not to jeopardise the road map for admission to public universities,” Ms Museveni wrote on Monday.

But by yesterday evening, Makerere University officials and schools across the country hadn’t received Ms Museveni’s communication; making their work difficult.