Rain, heavy traffic disrupts UCE exams 

The early Monday morning downpour in Kigezi sub-region slightly disrupted the commencement of the Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) examinations.

The rains started at around 8.10 am which affected many candidates whose schools were using motorcycles to pick up the exams from the police stations. 

At Kabale police station, the storage facility for Kabale district, the distribution started about 10 minutes to 09:00 a.m. Heads of schools arrived to collect the examination scripts with umbrellas. Some heads of schools like Medard Turamyomwe Salongo of Nyamweru secondary school in Nyamweru sub-county, Rubanda district were seen braving the rain to transport the exams on a motorcycle.

Elly Maate, the police spokesperson for the Kigezi region says that despite rain disrupting the distribution, no incident of sabotage has been registered in the region. Maate says that security is ready to ensure that the exams are done peacefully up to the end.

In Soroti district/city, the distribution of papers was delayed in a number of schools over lack of transport. Most of the schools relied on motorcycles for the distribution of papers but the exercise was delayed because of the poor road network. In Asuret Seed secondary school, examination papers arrived at 9:18 a.m. after students had long settled in examination halls. 

Some of the head teachers were seen arriving to pick up examination papers from Soroti West Central police station around 9:00 a.m., the official time for the commencement of morning papers. Elizabeth Ayura, the deputy headteacher of Gweri secondary school told our reporter that the school didn’t have reliable transport for picking papers early. 

“We had to resort to the motorcycle after failing to secure a vehicle for transporting papers. This took us a while on the road to reach here,” she said while rushing to sign the papers.

Patrick Omoding, the supervisor for Soroti said that they opened the distribution of papers at 8:30 a.m. to enable distant schools to deliver papers on time. Omoding says that although some slight delays were recorded, examinations have commenced peacefully in all the centers.

There were some delays reported at Kawempe police station distribution center as several teachers arrived late for examination papers. The distribution of the exams started 41 minutes after the hour of 8 a.m. Some of the teachers at the distribution center told our reporter that the delay had been caused by the high traffic on Bombo road because of the night downpour.

Hajj Sentamu Abdul Noor, the headteacher of Mbogo College School said that some teachers travel a long distance to reach the distribution center and others were new and not well versed with the system and were delayed in filling out the forms.

Generally, however, the examinations commenced with a sense of relative normalcy in stark contrast to the last two cycles plagued by the disruptive effects of COVID-19 restrictions and the Ebola outbreak.

Jennifer Kalule, the spokesperson for the Uganda National Examinations Board (Uneb) said that the examination papers were delivered on time to both the main and sub-stations.

In the bustling storage centers of Kampala, mostly situated within police stations, the examination papers and other related materials were dispatched on Sunday evening and reached their designated centers around 8:00 pm.

Despite initial concerns of morning rain disrupting the examination, the weather cleared before 7:00 am, ensuring a smooth start to the testing process. Scouts and other officials were prepared at the storage areas by 6:30 am, and a crucial briefing meeting took place at 7:30 am. 

However, as per the guidelines, the containers were not opened until 8:30 a.m. The chief scout at Nabweru police station commented on the early arrival of their team, stating, “We came early today; the first day is always complicated. We held a briefing for scouts to foster familiarity and to address any potential issues promptly.” 

Meanwhile, as the UCE examinations get underway, Uneb has once again issued a stern warning to both schools and candidates, cautioning them against any involvement in malpractice. Kalule noted that they emphasize that engaging in any form of misconduct could result in the cancellation of their examination results and potentially expose them to criminal charges.

The candidates began their examinations with Geography (paper one) in the morning, a compulsory subject that all registered candidates are required to write. In the afternoon, they will sit for Geography (paper two). A total of 364,421 candidates are registered to sit for UCE this year.