A total of 22 Senior Four candidates who missed writing their Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) examinations, which kicked off last week, will have to wait for a full year to sit the papers, the Uganda National Examinations Board (Uneb) has announced.
Uneb spokesperson Jennifer Kalule said the examinations body only learnt about the candidates’ predicament a day before the national exams began on October 13, making it impossible to include them among those scheduled to sit the papers.
‘We came to know about the matter on Sunday, and exams were for the following day [Monday]. Where do you start fixing them when exams are in the morning?’ she wondered.
‘So it was difficult for us to register them. I wish it were one candidate; it would be okay to help him or her at the last minute. But since they were many, it was really impossible. Remember their schools have no centre numbers. We have also established that their teachers did not submit their continuous assessment and project work to us,’ she added in an interview on Friday last week.
The affected candidates are from two schools, Cream Field Vocational Secondary School in Nakifuma, Mukono District, which has 15 candidates, and Bizmark High School in Mityana Municipality, which has seven. Only three candidates at Cream Field Vocational SS were registered to sit the final exams.
So far, the affected candidates have missed eight papers which were done last week. Ms Kalule said Uneb managed to assist some candidates whose issues were brought to their attention by October 10.
‘On Friday, October 10 [briefing day], we helped some candidates who had similar issues. I wish we had learnt about those issues at the two schools on October 10. The candidates would have been registered, but on October 12 [the day Uneb received the information], it was too late and there is nothing we can do about it now. Otherwise, I am going to engage my executive director and we shall see, but for now, there is no hope,’ she added.
The affected candidates from Cream Field Vocational SS told Daily Monitor that they had been studying without index numbers and were repeatedly told by the administration to ‘wait until briefing day’, a promise that was never fulfilled.
‘I am sure our directors and head teacher knew that we were not going to sit exams but they kept us in the dark. I personally want to know why they never registered us with Uneb,’ said a visibly upset female candidate who preferred anonymity.
Both school administrators at Cream Field Vocational SS and Bizmark High School are still hiding as police continue to hunt for them.