The Uganda National Examination Board (UNEB) has withheld Primary Leaving Examination results for 2,220 candidates for alleged malpractices.
According to UNEB, some members of the examination’s body support staff at the district level that were supposed to assist in the delivery and transportation of the exams were involved in some cases of malpractice.
The largest numbers of withheld results are from Bundibugyo and Kasese districts.
The UNEB executive director, Dan Odongo also noted that several examination distributors in the districts of Nakasongola, and the greater Masaka areas who were entrusted with delivering the papers to different centres, opened the envelopes to access the examination papers.
The Minister of Education and Sports Janet Kataha Museveni denounced acts of malpractice and asked the concerned officers to hold those involved accountable.
She directed UNEB to name and shame all schools that were involved in examination malpractice.
Schools whose results have been withheld will be invited to appear before the examination security committee where both teachers and learners will be questioned, those found guilty will be charged.
Meanwhile, a total of 12,819 registered candidates did not sit for the 2020 Primary Leaving Examinations-PLE.
According to UNEB, a total of 749,942 candidates registered for examinations but only 736,942 candidates showed up for the examinations.
Dan Odongo, the UNEB Executive Secretary says there were various reasons why there were absentee candidates.
Data from UENB shows that the highest number of absentee candidates were recorded in rural districts that include Isingiro district with 451 candidates out of 8,924 registered followed by Gomba district where over 9 percent representing 416 learners out of the registered 4,618 candidates did not sit for the examinations.
The Minister of Education and Sports, Janet Kataha Museveni says a follow up is needed to figure out what happens to learners who register but do not write the exams.
As far as the performance of candidates is concerned, Odongo said that more learners passed in Division one and two compared to the previous years.
Data released by the UNEB shows that 81,864 candidates passed in division one and 416,575 in division two while a total of 74,878 candidates totally failed the PLE exams.
Girls performed better than their male counterparts in English but did not fare as well in Mathematics, Social Studies and Sciences.
