By Leonard Kamugisha Akida,
KAMPALA
Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) has warned senior Four candidates slated to start their final exams this afternoon (October 13) against malpractice.
The senior four candidates will begin with briefing, a pre-requisite for all candidates and written exams will start on Monday October 16.
Addressing journalists at Media Centre earlier today, UNEB Executive Director Dan Odongo Nokrach warned that anybody found culpable will be dealth with in accordance with the provisions of UNEB Act, 2021.
“While high levels of integrity are expected from those we are working with, UNEB strongly warns against involvement in any form of examination malpractice,” he cautioned.
Section 25(1) provides that any person who gains or attempts to gain possession of any examination paper, or any part of an examination paper, examination material, or any other material or information which purports to relate to the contents of an examination paper, commits an offence and is liable, on conviction, to a fine not
exceeding two thousand currency points or a term of imprisonment not exceeding 10 years or both.
Subsection 2 of the same section provides that any person who, wilfully or negligently assists, or causes any candidate to obtain, or gain unauthorized possession of an examination paper, material or information or any part of an examination paper, commits an offence, and on conviction, will be liable to a fine not exceeding two thousand currency points or a term of imprisonment not exceeding 10 years or both.
“In both cases, this penalty will apply, whether the examination paper, examination material, or information is genuine or not,” Odongo warned.
Also, Section 26 provides that teachers, invigilators, scouts or any other persons who assist candidates to cheat, who negligently allow, or fail to stop unauthorised assistance to candidates are liable, on conviction, to a fine not exceeding one thousand currency points or 5 years in prison or both.
The police spokesperson SCP Fred Enanga said police and other sister agencies are deploying over 1,000 officers to assist in policing of UNEB exams.
“Our teams shall be actively involved in the safe protection, transportation, storage and delivery of all examination materials in coordination with the UNEB team from UNEB,” he said.
Enanga said that police have not registered any incident or breach in the exam materials and no leakage of examination materials has been recorded. He assured the public of safety and security during national exams exercise.
“We want to inform the public and school proprietors do not have any threats, acts of sabotage and vulnerabilities that may negatively impact the exams,” Enanga said.
“In case of any vulnerabilities and threats, we have counter measures that are in place such as our territorial commanders working with UNEB and heads of centres have mapped out schools and UNEB centres and created routes counter any potential breaches of security and any destructive behaviors like trespass, noise pollution.”
@PoliceUg Spokesperson @FredEnanga1 addressing journalists on police preparedness to ensure safety and security during the #UCE2023 exams period. Enanga warned Against involvement in exam malpractice.
🎥 @akida_leonard @UNEB_UG @Blessedjkm1 @978KazoFM @akampa01 @BarbaraNyamwiza pic.twitter.com/VdX5ZpMdDt— Parrots UG (@parrotsug) October 13, 2023
According to Enanga, police have managed to transport and deliver examination materials on time in far and hard to reach areas.
A total of 364,470 candidates registered for this year’s UCE examination, as compared to 349,445 candidates last year, indicating a percentage increase of 4.3 in candidature. Of these, 184,014 (50.5%) are females, while 180,456 (49.5%) are males. The candidates will write their papers from 3,863 Centres countrywide compared to 3,703 Examination Centres in 2022.
Luzira Upper Prison Centre which caters for the inmates registered 59 candidates, of whom 7 are females and 52 are males.
A total of 118,735 (32.5%) of the candidates are funded under the Universal Secondary Education (USE) Programme, while 245,734(70%) of the candidates are Non-USE. 777 of the UCE candidates are Special Needs Education (SNE) learners.
