12 students held for impersonating pupils to write PLE
Some of the secondary students from various schools who were arrested on Monday PHOTO BY DENIS EDEMA
Kampala- The national Primary Leaving Examinations yesterday evening ended with no major malpractices reported except for 12 students arrested in Njeru Municipality, Buikwe District over impersonation.
Police arrested 12 students reportedly hired to write Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE) for some candidates at Sese Bugolo Primary School.
The Njeru Municipal Council Principal Education Officer, Mr Hassan Nkuntu, said the suspects had been hired from some secondary schools in Buikwe and Mukono districts.
Mr Nkuntu said four of the suspects are from Yield Land Lugazi Secondary School and Stesa Secondary School both in Buikwe.
“The suspects were spotted by one of the scouts deployed to oversee the ongoing examination process at the school. We have since discovered that their photos are not matching with the original photos that Uganda National Examinations Board (Uneb) provided,” he said.
The Ssezibwa Regional Police spokesperson, Ms Hellen Butoto, confirmed that the suspects were held at Nyenga Police Station.
“We are also going to task the school administration to explain how they came up with that arrangement of hiring secondary students to sit exams for pupils at their school,” Ms Bututo said.
“We are still verifying particulars of other suspects and we shall release a full list in the course of the day,” she added.
Accident
In a related development, Mr Joseph Kateregga, a Uneb examination distributor in Kabira and Kasaso sub-counties in Kyotera District, on Monday sustained serious injuries following an accident.
Mr Mathias Kigoye, the Kyotera District education officer, blamed the accident on the impassable roads in the area caused by a down pour on Monday morning.
“He [Kateregga] was riding on a motorcycle with a police officer to deliver examination materials but due to slippery roads in the area they fell off and sustained serious injuries,” he said
The duo is admitted to Kalisizo hospital.
Delays
Mr Kigoye said the accident caused delay in delivery of exam materials in some schools such as Biwa Primary School Kijonjo where candidates started the Mathematics Paper after 11am.
“Despite the challenges we encountered in the morning, we have tried our best to ensure that all candidates in the district do their exams on Day One,” he said.
Ms Jennifer Kalule Musambwa, the Uneb public relations officer, revealed that police on Monday afternoon arrested another unidentified man in a school within Bugolobi, a city suburb, for trying to sell a fake Social Studies paper.
Asked whether they had faced incidences of exam leakage as has been the case before, Ms Musambwa said they did not receive any information to that effect saying the examinations were dispatched as planned.
Complied by Denis Edema, Ambrose Musasizi & Stephen Otage
