Exam body, UNEB has said they have not registered any major incidents as candidates started their Uganda Certificate of Education exams today in various centres across the country.

According to Jenifer Kalule Musamba, the UNEB spokesperson, a total of 349445 candidates, 175,923 of them males and 175522 females kicked off the exams today with Mathematics paper one and paper two, later in the afternoon.

“Exams started off well this morning in all parts of the country including Mubende and Kassanda districts which are under lockdown due to Ebola virus. UNEB was given preferential treatment to conduct exams in these districts based on guidelines provided by the Ministry of Health and security agencies,” said Jenifer Kalule Musamba, the UNEB spokesperson.

The UNEB publicists explained that of the candidates, 114,200 (32.7%) of the candidates are funded under the Universal Secondary Education (USE) programme, while 69 are inmates whereas 519 are special needs candidates.

She explained that the exams are the first to be conducted in accordance with the new UNEB Act passed last year and that to this, they have  deployed  a total of 1595 security personnel to be on the lookout for any suspicious activity.

“We have deployed 1,595 security officers, 1,611 scouts and 22,214 supervisors and invigilators. While high levels of integrity are expected from those we are working with, UNEB strongly warns against involvement in any form of examination malpractice. Anyone found culpable will be dealt with in accordance with the provisions of the UNEB Act 2021, which will be in force from this examination onwards and the penalties are quite stiff.”