The Arua City Police are looking into why a senior four student at Manibe Public Secondary School in Ayivu Division was not allowed to take the Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) exams.
He was told he couldn’t take his exams on Monday of last week because he didn’t show up to the candidates’ briefing and didn’t go to class very often during the third term.
The West Nile Region Police spokesperson, Josephine Angucia, says the matter was reported to police by one of the relatives of the affected student who was concerned after they failed to convince the school administration to allow him to sit the final exams. She says the head teacher of the school, Hoglar Ajidiru, confiscated the student’s identification card shortly after he had just arrived in the morning ready to sit for the mathematics paper on Monday, January 17, 2022.
Angucia has, however, warned school officials to deal with such oddities as soon as possible so that similar bad things don’t happen again soon.
According to police, the affected student was duly registered to sit for the final exams with UNEB registration number U2180012. He signed up to take ten classes: English Language, Geography, Mathematics, History, Christian Religious Education, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Lugbarati, and Entrepreneurship-EPS.
But the school’s head teacher, Hoglas Ajidiru, who is also in charge of the school’s center, defended her decision by saying that the student never came to school for the third term and only showed up on Monday of last week to take exams.
Ajidiri told Uganda Radio Network (URN) that although she told the affected student to go and bring his parents to address the matter, he returned when the students had finished writing mathematics paper one.
She, however, denied reports he stopped the student on the grounds of not finishing to clear the school fees area.
“There are other students who are sitting for the exams without clearing their fees. The issue is that he has not stepped his feet at the school since the start of this term, “Ajidiri noted.
The private school, Manibe Public Secondary, is in Yabiavoko cell, Ombokoro ward, Ayivu Division, Arua City.