By Leonard Kamugisha Akida,
NATIONAL
The Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) has cautioned schools against fraudulently registering normal learners as special needs candidates in order to secure undue examination advantages such as extra time.
“This is criminal and fraudulent. Sanctions will be applied against such schools,” UNEB Executive Director Dan Nokrach Odongo warned, while releasing the 2025 national examinations timetables at the Uganda Media Centre in Kampala on Monday. The board also issued the brailled timetables for cabdidates with special needs.
Odongo revealed that the board had provisionally registered 1,416,468 candidates for this year’s examinations, marking a 7.5% increase from last year’s 1,308,999. Of these, 51.5% are female while 48.5% are male.
UNEB also recorded 4,802 candidates with special needs this year, up from 4,587 in 2024.
According to the statistics, 818,010 candidates will sit for the Primary Leaving Examination (PLE), compared to 797,444 last year, a 2.5% increase. For the Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE), 432,025 candidates have been registered, reflecting a 12.1% increase from 379,699 in 2024. Meanwhile, the Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE) has 166,433 candidates, up from 141,996 in 2024, representing a 14.7% rise.
More than half of the candidates (719,016) are beneficiaries of the government’s Universal Education Program
The national examinations will officially begin with the briefing of UCE candidates on October 10. They will sit their first paper on October 13, starting with Geography in the morning and Biology theory in the afternoon. UCE examinations will run for about a month and conclude on November 7 with Technology and Design (Design and Drawing) in the morning and Arabic: Reading Comprehension and Writing in the afternoon.
PLE candidates will be briefed on October 31 before beginning their examinations on November 3 with Mathematics in the morning and Social Studies and Religious Education in the afternoon. On the second and final day, November 4, candidates will sit for Integrated Science in the morning and conclude with English in the afternoon.
The UACE candidates will be the last to sit their papers, starting with a briefing on November 7. The first sitting will take place on November 10, beginning with Theory of Government and Constitutional Development, History of Africa, and Physics Paper 1 in the morning, followed by Literature in English (Prose & Poetry), Kiswahili, and Physics Paper 2 in the afternoon.
