While the majority of examination distribution to storage facilities across the country proceeded smoothly, there were some initial challenges this morning.
For example, at the Nabweru Police storage facility, two incidents raised concerns. One parcel appeared to be damaged prior to distribution, sparking apprehension among the distributors.
“I’ve noticed this parcel is torn. We need to document that it was already torn when I received it. I don’t want to be accused of tampering with the examination later,” expressed one distributor, prompting further examination of the parcels. There have been previous reports of distributors tampering with examination materials en route to examination centers. Last year, a school headteacher in Wakiso was caught in cahoots with distributors in Mpigi tempering with examination parcels.
Additionally, at the same storage facility, a school received an examination parcel with fewer than the expected 71 papers, which was attributed to poor packaging. “Last year, a similar issue occurred, and we had to photocopy some papers from Nansana,” commented a police officer. While some papers were missing, it was later determined that the facility had received a parcel intended for the Kiwende facility.
This parcel was handed over to the Municipal Education Officer for immediate transport to its correct destination, as it contained more papers than those missing at the station. In the meantime, despite storage facilities opening early for Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE) to allow distributors ample time to deliver the exams to each center before 9:00 a.m., a situation in Matugga caused panic. At 8:00 a.m., the storage facility had not yet been opened.
One education officer explained that the issue stemmed from PLE and Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) examinations being stored in the same containers.”The person with the keys is nowhere to be found. This delay will affect the beginning of the examination, and many schools receiving exams from this center are situated at a distance,” the education officer added.
At the Kawempe Police distribution center, by 8 a.m. some UNEB scouts hadn’t yet figured out the exact schools where they had been posted. Some were seen asking for the location of the school when the exams had already left for the respective schools. The administrator in reaction said all the scouts and invigilators had been briefed yesterday but some might have missed.
Moses Bwengye Tumwijukye, Kabale District Education Officer says that the distribution of PLE papers for rural schools kicked off at exactly 07:30 AM while for the municipality it started at 08:30 AM. Bwengye said that distributors used motorcycles and motor vehicles as means of transport.
Elly Maate, the Kigezi Region Police spokesperson, said that security hasn’t registered any incident disrupting the distribution of exams at the regional level.
To ensure the security and integrity of the PLE examination, 139 District Monitors, 11,758 scouts, 10,664 Chief invigilators, and 30,059 invigilators have been deployed. Additionally, a significant number of security personnel are supporting the examination process to safeguard candidates, examination materials, and field officers. This year, a total of 749,347 candidates registered for the PLE examination across 14,442 examination centers, marking an increase from the previous year.
