It was a hopeless moment at Cream Field Vocational Senior School in Nakifuma, Mukono District as 15 candidates who had prepared to sit the Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) examinations learnt at the 11th hour that the school administration had not registered them with the Uganda National Examinations Board (Uneb).
Parents and teachers say on Friday, they got information that the children may not have been registered. They add that when they tried to contact the school administration, their calls went unanswered.
On Sunday, their fears were confirmed. Monitor learnt that the school administrators went into hiding the day Uneb gazette was released to brief candidates about the exams.
On October 13, at around 8am, parents of the affected candidates stormed the school. They started destroying the school property.
Three candidates collapsed and were rushed to different health facilities to receive health assistance. Vennesa Namujju, one of the affected candidates, said only three of their colleagues were registered to sit the exams.
Monitor also learnt that the school does not have a Uneb sitting centre and candidates were expected to sit the exams from Nakifuma Modern Secondary School, as has been the arrangement in the past years. Milly Nakyazi, another affected candidate, said: ‘My mother struggles to get fees, and if I don’t sit my final exams, I doubt whether she will manage to raise tuition for me to repeat the same class.’
Ms Mazzi Nassuna, a parent, said: ‘I sent the Uneb registration fee by mobile money since I live very far, thinking the school administrators are trustworthy, but they swindled the money and didn’t register my son.’
Ms Rose Nakavubu, another parent, said her daughter attempted to commit suicide after learning that she is not among those to sit for the exams. Mukono Resident District Commissioner (RDC) Fatuma Ndisaba ordered the immediate closure of the school, together with its primary section, Happy Hills Junior.
The schools are managed by Mr Muhammad Ssefuka and Mr Ramathan Muwonge, whose whereabouts were still unknown by press time.
‘I have instructed the district police commander to arrest the school proprietors, and we are going to talk to Uneb officials and see how they can help these candidates sit for their final exams,’ Ms Ndisaba said.
In Mityana District, eight candidates at Bizmark High School in Mityana Municipality also suffered the same fate. Allen Batamuriza, one of the affected candidates, said they cleared all the school dues, but were surprised not to be among those registered to do the exams.
‘We really don’t know what to do now. We need quick assistance so that we can sit the exams like other candidates,’ she said.
Tizera Nansikombi, another affected candidate, said the head teacher assured them last Thursday that everything had been finalised for them to sit the exams.
She said the school administrators had told them that they were going to sit their exams at a school in Kalangalo Sub-county.
‘He [head teacher] said everything was okay, but we don’t know what really happened thereafter,” she said Bizmark High School, which has an enrolment of 50 students from Senior One to Senior Four, does not have a permanent home and has been moving to different premises within the municipality over the past four years. Ms Prossy Mwanjuzi, the deputy RDC of Mityana District, condemned the conduct of the school administrators and ordered police to apprehend them.
In a statement released yesterday, police in Wamala region, which covers Mityana, said their preliminary investigation revealed that in April, Mr Henry Ssemakula, the proprietor of Bizmark High School, allegedly collected Shs270,000 from each of the affected candidates for Uneb examination registration but didn’t remit the funds to the examination body.
‘Findings indicate that the director, since April 2025 until October 12, had been assuring the victims that he had registered them and they were to sit for their final Senior Four examinations at Kalangalo Secondary School since Bizmark High School has no Uneb centre number,’ the statement issued by Ms Racheal Kawala, the police spokesperson in the region, reads in part Ms Kawala said on October 12, Mr Ssemakula told the victims that he never registered them and were not eligible to sit for national exams.
‘Findings indicate the suspect runs the school alone, acting as head teacher, bursar, cook, and guard. It is alleged that teachers come from other schools to teach and then go back. Efforts are on to have the suspect arrested and brought to book,’ she said.
At Burema Secondary School in Kanungu District, two out of the 90 registered candidates missed the first examination, according to the head teacher, Mr Baker Twehikire. Mr Twehikire said when they contacted their parents, they were told that they did not know their whereabouts.
At Kinkizi High School in Kanungu District, the head teacher, Rev Emmanuel Mutabazi, said one candidate missed the examinations.
The head teacher of San Giovana School Makiro in Kanungu District, Mr Dennis Tukamushaba, said one candidate missed the first examination paper for unknown reasons.
At Kabale Secondary School in Kabale District, two female candidates did not turn up for the first examination paper, according to the head teacher, Mr Amon Mwesigye Byaruhanga.
‘We could not get reasons from their parents why they did not come for examinations,’ Mr Byaruhanga said. In Sembabule, Masaka, and Bugiri districts, some candidates did not show up for the exams because they were either pregnant or had abandoned their studies.