The Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) says that as registration of candidates starts officially today, they have already received reports concerning irregularities in the implementation of the process.
According to UBTEB, one of the main reasons for failure by learners is institutions teaching old curricula that are no longer being examined. As a result, learners appear for examinations to find things they were not taught
According to Layet, she was asked by management together with her colleague who returned with her child to find alternative accommodation. She told URN on Wednesday that she was struggling to find accommodation outside the College, which requires an additional 500,000 Shillings.
Emmanuel Elimu, the Senior Probation Officer Bukedea District, says the figures were extracted from Police and antenatal visits in various Health facilities covering the period between April and September this year.
Rose Nakanwagi, the Deputy Head Teacher Kitante Primary School, says they received Shillings 4.5 million. According to the breakdown, Shillings 3 million is meant for school maintenance and the remaining Shillings 1.5 million is meant to help management to put in place the necessary requirements so as to comply with the Standard Operating Procedures to prevent the spread of COVID19.
Mike Ssekago, the headteacher Wampewo Ntake Secondary School, says they have turned away over 30 candidates since they resumed studies on Oct 15th, 2020. He explains that they have already reached their UNEB ceiling for candidate classes.
Kitgum Resident District Commissioner William Komakech says that 7,600 face masks will be distributed to schools in Sub Counties while 7,752 will be given to learners in schools within the Municipality.
According to Samson Olaki Okare, the District Education Officer of Kapelebyong, the schools are still bushy, lack COVID-19 prevention messages, hand washing facilities among others.
Susan Akany, the Omoro Resident District Commissioner, who doubles as the Task Force Chairperson, says hundreds of teenage girls in the district are believed to be pregnant.
In 2014 the Government of Uganda signed a financing agreement of USD 9 million with Iceland to support the construction and renovation of schools in fishing communities.
Janipher Kalule the spokesperson UNEB says that schools have five weeks from the reopening day to start and also finish the registration process to enable the board organize.
Moses Obong, the Deputy Principal UTC-Lira, says the funds will be used to construct two-storied classroom blocks, workshops, purchase heavy road equipment, a bus and pickup vehicles among others.
Kyaligonza says the Education authorities promised to avail the school with two tents and Mobile toilets but nothing has been done since last week yet the church where they are currently operating from isn’t sufficient for the 38 candidates.
Dr Charles Olaro, the Director of Clinical Services at the Ministry of Health says that screening for temperature is one of the ways of identifying COVID-19 suspected patients. However, since some schools are using thermometers that are not calibrated, the chances of learners being infected are high.
David Basadah, the Principal of the College told Uganda Radio Network in an interview that the students and their lecturers have returned to the college with stress and psychological challenges.
Professor Katunguka’s comments come at a time when a section of academic staff are bickering over continued importation of university managers. The staff argue that 90% of university’s top senior managerial positions are occupied by people who come from outside the university like Makerere, University Christian University and Makerere business school etc.
Grace Pamela Adong, the Bundibugyo District Probation Officer, says a number of girls aged between 13 and 18 years might not return to school because they are either married, breastfeeding or still be pregnant.
The 19 schools that were not cleared to reopen however, included 4 primary schools that did not intend to re-open anyway, as they did not have enough candidate learners to justify opening, and instead opted to refer the few children to other schools of the parents' preference.
URN further established that the situation is worse with rented rooms where landlords have significantly increased rent simply because students will not be allowed to share the rooms, so one person is liable for the entire room.
Byarugaba explains that apart from the system saving the university from spending money in printing ballots, it is more necessary during this pandemic period were distancing is required to avoid queues, monitoring counting of votes since it has been designed with a good back up for records and all results shall be directly displayed on screens on the voting day.
