Dan Odongo the Executive Director of Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) has reassured the public that as long as the examination papers are still in their custody, there always safe and no one can access them.
Odongo made this assurance a day after Buganda Road Court judge Ronald Kayizzi remanded six individuals to Luzira prison on allegations of examinations malpractice.
“What was shared by these individuals wasn’t the actual examination, what they shared purportedly being for PLE, by the time they shared we weren’t even done with them, the public seems to believe that anyone who works with us has access to examination papers which is not true,” Odongo explained.
Odongo who was addressing journalists on the commencement of the 2023 Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) Examinations on Friday also warned candidates, parents and teachers against examination malpractice and appealed to head teachers to conduct the actual briefing of candidates themselves since they are the final authorities and what they communicate is likely to be taken very serious.
Examinations of 2023 UCE candidates across the country officially began on Friday with a briefing session of candidates and thereafter, they will start writing examinations papers on Monday 16.
This year, a total of 364,470 candidates were registered for UCE examinations and these will write their papers from 3,863 centers countrywide.
On the issue of pending school fees balances, Odongo encouraged parents to address this issue with the school heads early enough to avoid inconveniencing candidates at the time of examinations.
“The board will also work with the schools to put in place measures to assist them in recovering their fees even after the examination has been done by a defaulting candidate,” he asserted.
In his remarks, Fred Enanga the police spokes person revealed that currently their territorial commanders and the head of UNEB in police have finalized with the mapping out of all examination centers country wide and warned all involved parties against malpractice.
“We have created patrol routes to counter any potential breaches of security and other destructive behaviors like noise pollution, school invasion and all acts trespass during the time of writing examinations,” Enanga explained.
With candidates writing Geography paper1 and two on Monday, UNEB further warned candidates against indiscipline and it reechoed that they will neither be involved or sympathized with anyone subjected to strict disciplinary measures by the school.