The Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) has announced that the 2024 Primary Leaving Examination (PLE) results will be officially released on Thursday, January 23, 2025, amid being significantly affected by several Examination malpractice report.
According to a statement released by UNEB on January 21, 2025, the event will be presided over by the First Lady and Minister of Education and Sports Janet Museveni at state house Nakasero.
In an assessment done by UNEB the exams done in November 2024, were severely hit by malpractices, with the majority of cases involving collusion involving head teachers, examination scouts, and invigilators.
“UNEB report outlined several significant cases of cheating uncovered at top schools across various regions of the country. For example, at St. Mugagga in Nkozi, Mpigi District, a teacher was caught writing answers on the blackboard while invigilators were looking on which resulted in the arrest of seven individuals, including the UNEB scout, the school head teacher, and five invigilators,”The statement reads in part.
Another case at Kisoso Parents School was recorded in Masaka City where two teachers who were not permitted in the examination room were found assisting candidates and a following investigation revealed that the teachers had stored exam-related materials on their phones, indicating they had prior knowledge of the exam content.
UNEB also reported the arrest of an invigilator at Green Hill Primary School in Buwate, who was caught possessing an electronic device in the exam room, which was suspected to be used for aiding malpractice.
In Kuyunga District, UNEB with the help of the district internal security officer uncovered another cheating ring at Lion Judah Elementary School, where teachers were caught preparing answers for the mathematics paper minutes after the learners had started the examination.
Section 26 of the new UNEB Act of 2021 provides that “Anyone who, while serving as a supervisor, invigilator, scout, monitor, or special needs education support personnel, negligently allows unauthorized assistance to be given to a candidate commits an offence. If convicted, they can be liable to a fine of up to 20 million Shillings a prison sentence of up to five years, or both.”
Furthermore, the Act stipulates that registered teachers who are found encouraging malpractice may not only face legal consequences but face disciplinary action in accordance with the relevant laws governing the teaching profession.
A total of 798,771 PLE candidates registered for the 2024 examination across 15,311 centres, compared to 749,254 in 2023.
