The Uganda National Examinations Board-UNEB has directed all primary and secondary schools to display a register of candidates who are going to sit for this year’s national examinations.
In a letter addressed to headteachers, UNEB Executive Director Dan Odong noted that this activity should be carried out effective August 13.
“The register should be displayed in a conspicuous place at the school notice board to enable candidates to review and confirm their status of registration as well as their bio-data,” the letter dated August 11th reads in part.
Odongo also noted that the heads of the centre should also avail copies of the register to the district education officer who will as well display them in a visible place accessible by any interested party, including but not limited to parents, candidates, district officials, and any other authorities.
Previously, some headteachers have been fond of mis-allocating students’ registration fees, leaving the affected candidates stranded on the day of examinations. However, the new UNEB Act 2021, which was passed in April last year, gave the board powers to direct all schools and UNEB centres to display registered candidates for a period of 60 days.
During the display, concerned parties are expected to confirm the learner’s candidature, cross-check candidates’ names and spelling, candidates’ photographs, date of birth, photos of candidates, and subjects offered by the learners.
Over the years, many people have made mistakes, more so in their names and subjects offered. For instance, last year, several students at Wakiso School for the Deaf realized that they had registered for a different paper on the day of the examination, which created challenges in the processing of their results.
Besides the manual register, UNEB has also provided an option to confirm the registration status of candidates using the mobile Short Messaging Service (SMS). To confirm one’s UNEB registration status using this method, one needs to know the full Index Number of the candidate. ‘Type Reg, leave Space, type Full Index Number, and send it to 6600 on all mobile networks.’
Parents or other interested parties are advised to immediately notify the school administrators of any irregularities that need to be corrected after using either the manual register or electronic system. The school administration will then tell UNEB to make the necessary changes.
This year’s examinations will be conducted from October to December as the case was prior to the COVID-19 school closures, according to UNEB’s roadmap. Exams for S.4 students are scheduled to take place between October 14 and November 18, P.7 candidates from November 7 to 9, and S.6 candidates from November 18 to December 9.
According to recently released data, the examinations body registered 1,279,962 candidates across all three levels this year.
