By Denis Turyahebwa.
UCE examinations have begun this Monday morning, with 323,129 candidates sitting at 3453 examination centres across the country with a nearly equal number of male and female candidates.
According to UNEB Executive Secretary Daniel Odong, schools must brief candidates through regulations to avoid involvement in examination malpractices saying breach of regulations will attract tough sanctions.
Odong also said UNEB has deployed over 1,600 scouts and covert security personnel to monitor examinations to deal with what he called threats during examinations.
Meanwhile UNEB has withdrawn registration centres of three schools for examination malpractices, warning that schools that were involved in such practices last year will have their registration withdrawn if found culpable of aiding cheating again.
Odong also appealed to all religious leaders to preach against examination malpractice citing recent counsel by Cardinal Emmanuel Wamala who reminded students and pupils to be transparent during examination.
However he said students must not be blocked from sitting examinations for failure to pay school fees noting that there must be a mechanism between schools and UNEB through which students who will not have paid fees can have their results withheld.
He said that whereas it is important for schools to get their fees to operate, it is wrong to punish students by refusing them to sit for exams. He advised parents to negotiate with school administrations in case of default.
He also said he hoped cases of unregistered students who paid registration fees would not emerge indicating that they have given students, parents and teachers enough time to check for their registration.
