The Executive Secretary of Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) Daniel Odongo has pinned district inspects for perpetrating the evil of examination cheating by colluding with schools to grant them invigilators and supervisors they ask for.
“Some schools get so privileged that they ask for supervisors and invigilators they want themselves and you the inspectors go on and act in favour of them, this must be stopped,” Odongo warned.
Odongo issued the warning while addressing a routine pre-examination seminar for district and municipal school inspectors that was held at Silver Springs Hotel in Bugoloobi, Kampala.
The responsibility of allocating inspectors and invigilators to schools is the job of district and municipal education inspectors.
But Odongo warned district and municipality education inspectors to be extra serious this time around and avoid distributing invigilators and supervisors in favour of some schools.
The UNEB boss also cautioned the district inspectors against registering private students as UPE. Odongo said this costs UNEB some money since UPE students paid for by government, are charged less compared to private ones.
“We recently carried out a survey in 26 districts and 4 municipalities and found pupils registered as UPE pupils yet they were pupils that had been in private,” said Odongo.
In further pinning the schools inspectors, Odongo said reports he got from school headteachers indicated that they had been directed to register private students under UPE, by district schools inspectors.
Last week, UNEB released the full programme for this year’s final exams for all three levels starting with S.4 students who will commence theirs on October 11, 2019.
But the UNEB chief warns that whereas they have secured the assistance of security agencies, everyone should be vigilante and stamp out the vice of exam cheating.
He pointed an accusing finger at parents, headteachers for being complicit in the vice of exam cheating.
“In 2018 exams, teachers were found writing exams and investigations revealed that parents had paid a sum of money to ensure invigilators and supervisors are facilitated for this” reveled Odongo.
The UNEB boss cited the Rwenzori region as special area of interest for UNBE following wide-spread cases of exam cheating that were identified last year.
“Rwenzori region has been a threat to us in terms of malpractices; one of the districts lost almost half of the examinations last year due to exam malpractices,” said Odongo.
Alex Kakooza, the Education Ministry Permanent Secretary who officiated at the event informed participants at the seminar that his ministry has decided to take stern measures against all headteachers and individuals who engage in examination malpractices.
“Heads of schools are expected to be exemplary but we even hear that they deny engaging in exam malpractices in spite of incriminating evidence. This time the Ministry is to take stricter measures against such headteachers and individuals.”
Kakooza further urged inspectors to report to the ministry headteachers and teachers that are not serious with their work instead of protecting them.
“We still have teachers and headteachers that don’t report to school on time. You know them but you decide not to report them. This should change,” warned Kakooza.
