The Uganda National Examinations Board (Uneb) has explained that the discrepancy in one of the Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE) examination papers was a typographical error.
The Economics Paper Two, sat on Tuesday morning, was dated ‘November/December 2024’ instead of 2025, raising concerns among candidates and parents that the board could have mistakenly distributed a past paper.
Images of the examination paper quickly circulated on social media, prompting Uneb to issue an official corrigendum clarifying the mix-up.
In a November 11 letter, addressed to all area supervisors, Uneb Executive Director Dan Odongo said the year on the paper should have read 2025, not 2024, and directed that candidates proceed with the examination.
‘Please take note that the year should read 2025, and not 2024, as is on the examination paper. The candidates should proceed with the examination,’ the letter read in part.
Speaking to Monitor on November 13, Uneb spokesperson Jennifer Kalule described the incident as a minor typographical error that did not affect the content or integrity of the paper.
‘Yes, it is true there was a typing error in the header where we erroneously wrote 2024 instead of 2025. However, the content of the paper was truly 2025 and not a past paper as alleged on social media,’ Ms Kalule said.
She added that the Board immediately acted upon learning of the error by communicating to all examination centres through the online portal and professional supervisors’ forums.
‘The Board was able to quickly communicate to all our centres through the portal and other professional forums. We wish to allay the fears of the public and to assure them that the Economics paper was a current 2025 paper and not a past paper,’ Ms Kalule added.
Uneb’s quick response helped calm concerns among supervisors and candidates who had already started the examination by the time the clarification was issued.
However, Uneb did not explain the source of the typographical error. Traditionally, the Uneb prepares three sets of test papers for each subject every year. Two of the three sets are usually supplementary, in case of any emergency.
Uneb distributes one set to all candidates, reserving the two supplementary papers for emergencies, such as leakage or other errors in one of the sets.
Uneb is currently conducting the UACE examinations across the country, the final series in this year’s national exams cycle.
This comes on the back of the completion of the Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE) and Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) exams.
About 166,402 candidates are sitting for this year’s examinations, which commenced on Monday, in more than 2,000 centres nationwide, marking a slight increase from last year.