Education ministry blacklists schools over exam registration

Kampala. The Ministry of Education and sports has named four schools, which have been implicated in examination registration malpractice and handed their cases to police for further investigation and possible prosecution.
In a statement published in the Daily Monitor yesterday, the ministry said the named schools prevented some students from sitting their examinations due to reasons such as “non-completion of school fees, indiscipline, pregnancy and absenteeism.”
Some officials who handled registration at the schools or at the district level failed to remit the collected registration fees to Uganda National Examinations Board (Uneb) and the concerned candidates as a result missed writing their examinations, according to the public notice.

Affected schools
The schools named include Bahrain Primary School in Iganga District with 22 unregistered candidates; Busenya Junior School in Butambala Districts with four candidates affected; Kiboga Progressive in Kiboga District with two candidates; and Yale Secondary School Kasawo in Mukono District where 23 candidates were affected.
“These are grave malpractices that demonstrate unprofessional, inhuman and intolerable behaviour of concerned administrators which the ministry cannot tolerate. The ministry will henceforth take action against the perpetrators. Rewards and sanctions committee is already taking disciplinary measures against all the teachers involved,” read the statement in part.
The just concluded national examinations were marred with numerous cases of candidates missing all or some papers.
A number of parents came out to call on government to intervene in the situation and help their children sit for the missed exams.
Ms Janet Museveni, the Education minister, promised to work on the various grievances and provide a lasting solution to the problem.
Mr Alex Kakooza, the Permanent Secretary Ministy of Education, said all the teachers and administrators who got involved in any of the named acts would face the law.
He said parents need to directly get involved in monitoring whether their children have been registered or not.
“Schools should always publish lists of the registered candidates for easy following up. But parents can also check the status of the children using the online platform which is the same they use when the results are released,” he said.
Mr Filbert Baguma, the General Secretary Uganda National Teacher’s Union, said they have always advised all schools to get centre numbers but some of the colleagues have always developed cold feet because of the small numbers of their candidates or lack of infrastructure.
“Some of these administrators don’t have infrastructure or the required number of candidates before you receive a Uneb centre number. Issues which involve candidates missing examinations because of a few individuals are regrettable and the ministry should take their due action,” Mr Baguma said.
For a school to get a Uneb centre number they need to have a main hall where the students are supposed to sit for exams, the school must also have at least 20 candidates among other requirements.