The First Lady Janet Museveni who also doubles as the Minister of Education and Sports has expressed deep concern over increasing behaviors related to examination malpractice in schools, saying that punitive actions have been enforced to tackle the vice.
Museveni made the remarks on Friday, 27th January as UNEB released the outcomes of the 2022 Primary Leaving Examinations. She said as a Ministry they strongly condone the practice and any school caught in the act will be held accountable.
‘’All those engaged in examination malpractice, please know that it will not be business as usual now because the UNEB Act 2021 is out and provides for punitive action for those found guilty, of participating and condoning this practice. This year we registered several suspected cases of external assistance to candidates,’’ Museveni said.
A total of 832,810 candidates registered for PLE from 14,153 examination centers. 51.9 percent of the total registered candidates were females and 48.1 percent were males. 583,769 were funded under the Universal Primary Education-UPE program, and 249,041 were non-UPE candidates.
On this, the First Lady commended UNEB officials for conducting the exams amidst challenges posed by the Covid19 and the Ebola epidemic.
‘’They achieved this at the peak of COVID-19 and have done it again. What is even gratifying is that of the pupils who sat (832,654) for PLE in 2022, 583,768 ( 70.1%) were UPE beneficiaries from 11,306 centers,’’ Museveni said.
She appealed to teachers and parents to continue supporting their children academically. She said completion of the education cycle for any learner should be considered a priority and a collective effort of the schools, parents and guardians, as well as the community in general.
Museveni assured that government will continue to work closely with institutions and private education providers to ensure that those who qualify for admission into post-primary institutions are placed in the secondary schools.
”In Titus 2:7-8 the Bible states: “You yourself must be an example to them, by doing good works of every kind. Let everything you do reflect the integrity and seriousness of your teaching. Teach the truth so that your teaching cannot be criticised,” she added.