The acting Minister of Education and Sports, Hon. Dr. John Chrysostom Muyingo, has ordered schools to ensure that any Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) -registered candidate must be allowed to sit his or her end-of-cycle exams irrespective of whether he or she has any outstanding school fees or charges owed to the respective school.
According to a statement released by Dr. Dennis Mugimba, the ministry spokesperson, the directive follows several complaints against some schools denying UNEB-registered candidates who have outstanding school fees and/or charges from sitting their end-of-cycle examinations.
“It is the responsibility of the respective Headteacher to officially communicate to UNEB the particulars of candidates who have sat their end-of-cycle exams before clearing outstanding school fees or charges to enable UNEB withhold the results of such candidates” he said.
He added, “It is the responsibility of the responsible Headteacher to formally inform UNEB when to release the results of any candidate(s) whose results had been withheld on account of non-payment of outstanding school fees or charges by the time student sat his or hers UNEB end-of-cycle exams”.
Mr Mugimba noted that the directives are provided for in the Education (Pre-Primary, Primary, and Post-Primary) Act, 2008, which provides for the Minister from time to time, initiate policies and reforms of education as the need arise under Section 3(2)(a), without prejudice to the general duties of the Minister under subsection (1).
“The payment of any outstanding school fees or charges by UNEB-registered candidates who were allowed to sit their end-of-cycle exams prior to settling such dues shall not incur any penalty or fee” he said.
On Monday, a total of 503,055 candidates began writing their Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) examinations at 4,514 centres across the country.
According to UNEB, girls account for the larger share of those sitting the examinations this year at 264,722 females, while boys are 238,333.
