Addressing journalists today at the media center, the Executive Director of Uganda National Examination Board Dan Odongo, announced that this year’s number of candidates registered to sit for the UCE examination is 364,470 which is 4.3percent compared to 349,445 candidates registered in the previous year where 50.5% were females and 49.5 were males.

He says that this year girls are slightly more than boys by 30 percent compared to the past years where in most cases girls were fewer than boys.

These candidates are expected to start off their briefing this Friday.

The culture in Uganda is that as we near the end of the year, students from primary seven, senior four and senior six sit for final exams set by UNEB, a government body responsible for grading students according to performance. This program was disorganized by Covid 19 a few years back but the situation is back to normal. Today the Executive Director of UNEB Dan. N. Odongo revealed that the exams kick off today with the briefing of candidates at the various centres around Uganda.

This year, 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-US.

Odongo also noted that Luzira Upper Prison Center where prison inmates sit for their papers registered 59 candidates, 7 of which are females and 52 males.

Students have been urged to be disciplined during the examinations in case they want to have a smooth exam period and the board has also made it very clear that bad behavior will not be tolerated

777 candidates with special needs are set to sit the exams this year and this is an increase compared to last year. 49.7 percent are females and 50.3 males these are to be given special arrangements during the exams. 

The public has been urged to grossly ignore the false information which is circulating on social and other platforms about the UNEB papers leaking.  Odongo says people spreading such lies around will be punished if found and that it is not allowed according to the law.

Police spokesperson, Fred Enanga announced that they have at least 1,000 officers who are to be deployed to different centres as the Uganda Certificate of Education exams kicks off on Monday.

He added that all police officers have been briefed on their roles and will treat everyone with respect at all times and expect members of the public to do the same, he says anyone caught in malpractice will be dealt with accordingly

The board has sent out a stern warning to teachers and candidates who expect to engage in any examination malpractice to be reminded that the examination process of the students found will immediately be cancelled and the examination centres terminated in case teachers are involved. Enanga reveals that they are in partnership with various security agencies contracted professionals, and heads of centres to conduct this examination successfully. This year’s exam period will end on 1^st December this year.