UNEB Asks for 10.4 Bn Supplementary Budget After Releasing Exams’ Timetables.
Written by Editor on February 22, 2021
By Amy
The delayed National examinations for 2020-2021 candidates will kick off with a briefing of O’level candidates on Friday, February 26, 2021. This is according to the examination timetable released by the Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB).
The learners at this level will then start their examinations on March 1, 2021, with the physics practical paper. There are 333,775 candidates for the Uganda Certificate of Education -UCE.
The primary seven candidates totaling 749, 811 will be briefed on March 26, and start their examinations with the Mathematics Paper on March 30, 2021, and the Social Studies paper in the afternoon. The next day, learners will sit for the integrated science paper and end with English on March 31, 2021.
The examination cycle will end with the Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education whose briefing is scheduled to take place on April 9, 2021. The up to 98,379 learners in this category, will start their examinations on April 12, 2021, with the European history paper. According to the time table, the cycle officially ends on May 3, 2021, with Imaginative composition in color. At least 1,181,965 candidates are going to sit for their final exams.
Dan Odongo, the UNEB Executive Secretary said that despite the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on both the schools and the learners, the board will not compromise on any processes and quality of the exams.
He notes that the board is aware that the education ministry, together with schools, has been able to facilitate the candidates with study materials in print form and online studies. And, as such, the setting and marking of the exams will be based on the usual criteria to avoid compromising standards of results given at both local and international level.
However, there’s desperate need for more funds to facilitate the UNEB exams of the current finalists of P.7, S.4 & S.6 just after they released the final examination timetable last week. The request was made by Dan Odongo, Executive Secretary UNEB while appearing before Parliament’s Budget Committee to defend the supplementary budget request “before the pandemic, the Board required spacing of 1.2 meters but this distance has to be adjusted to 2m meters to conform to the SOPs, a development that would require more invigilators to cover the additional rooms to be used..”
So there’s need for immediate recruitment and training of more than 35000 invigilators and scouts. The board also wants to increase the number of marking centers from 30 to 40 to ensure compliance with the physical distancing at the centers in line with the COVID-19 measures.
But there are concerns from the UNEB system when it is only a week for UCE candidates to start their examinations. “Everything is not well here. We have not received funds to operationalize the Standard Operating Procedures-SOPs. Management requested for a supplementary, which was recently approved but the money has not been processed, we have faced a similar situation before when the budget is approved and funds delay or fail to reach the board’s accounts.” UNEB requested for a supplementary budget of Shillings 10.4billion on grounds because of a shortfall in their budget,” the source said.
