More examiners to mark PLE this year

The Uganda National Examinations Board (Uneb) has revealed that more examiners are slated to be invited to mark this year’s Primary Leaving Examination (PLE) papers after the board registered an increase in the number of candidates.

According to Uneb, 832,839 pupils have been registered to sit for the forthcoming 2022 examinations compared to 749,809 pupils who sat for PLE in 2020.

A source at Uneb told Monitor that the board trained 6,000 out of which they were supposed to choose about 5,000 as PLE examiners.

The source, however, said the board has decided to recruit all the 6,000 examiners to handle the marking of papers. These have since been trained and await appointment letters.

“The number of candidates has increased and the board will need extra people to handle all the papers. These are all going to be notified,” the source said.

 Another source said some arts teachers in government schools threatened to boycott the marking of examinations after the government side-lined them and increased the salaries of science teachers. 

The source said the 6,000 examiners are slated to be invited to avoid disruptions of the exams. Majority are from private schools.

The board used 5,100 examiners to mark PLE exams.
The director of finance, planning and projects at Uneb, Mr Moses Okello, said registration of examiners was done online.

He said these are supposed to be taken through three tier assessment, including pre-training, continuous and post-training, which contribute to the success or failure of trainees.

Teachers are supposed to apply for subjects they teach and should have three years’ experience, according to Uneb officials.

Mr Okello was speaking to Monitor in an interview during the annual seminar for district, city and municipal inspectors of schools on preparations for the 2022 PLE exams last Thursday.

The examinations are slated to kick off on October 16 with Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE). These will be followed by PLE on November 7 and 8, and Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE) on November 21.

More than1.2 million learners have been registered to sit for the three sets of examinations.

Marking of exams will then kick off from various schools that will be identified by the government as marking centres.

80 people printing exams held at Uneb
The printing of examination papers is underway at Uneb offices.

The Executive Director of Uneb, Mr Daniel Odongo, told Monitor in an interview that 80 people printing the three sets of the exams are detained at Uneb premises until the exams are dispatched next month.

He said all their phones have been taken away from them and are not allowed to communicate to their family members. 

“These are not allowed to communicate to anyone outside the printing centre. They are allowed to speak to only me. This is done to limit their contact with people outside to prevent mal-practise,” Mr Odongo said.

Non-UPE candidates
Mr Okello told Monitor that some heads of school have been handing to Uneb the list of non-UPE candidates as UPE candidates to dodge paying registration fees.

Government pays registration fees for all learners in UPE schools across the country. 
“We shall apprehend the heads of these schools and as well recover the money from the candidates. Their results will be held until they clear this,” Mr Okello said.
 
Cross border registration banned

Meanwhile, the Uneb director for Examinations, Mr Mike Masikye Nangosya, said the board has banned cross-border registrations of candidates and no schools should transfer their learners from one district to another to sit the exams.

He asked the district inspectors to be keen when the examinations kick off, saying those who will be caught will lose their centres.

“Leaners are supposed to sit for exams from where she or he studies from; not studying from one district and sitting exams in another district,” Mr Masikye said.