The Uganda Business and Technical Examination Board- UBTEB have
asked heads of institutions not to increase examination fees as the body
resumes the examination registration process for the May/June examination
cycle.
The cycle is expected to start on October 19, 2020, following the
re-opening of education institutions for finalists. This comes after the board
halted the registration process of finalists following the closure of all
educational institutions in March 2020 following the outbreak of the COVID-19
pandemic.
The registration process is for finalists for Technical and commerce-related
courses who were supposed to sit for examinations in May. Each candidate
registering will be expected to pay 110,000 Shillings to cover the entire
examination process.
According to UBTEB schools should find other means to increase
tuition but not to add it to examination fees.
Onesmus Oyesigye, the Executive Secretary UBTEB urged schools to desist
from asking finalists to pay extra charges under the guise of providing
COVID-19 testing fees or implementing Standard Operating Procedures- SOPs.
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Candidates who would have completed the registration process will then
sit for national examinations on November 23 for Technical courses and November
30 for Commerce or Business related courses.
An estimated 40,000 finalists will be sitting for the examinations
from 203 examinations centers in the country. Previously, students have
maintained a 1.5-meter distance during final examinations. In the November
examination cycle, learners will have to keep a distance of over two meters.
In addition to this, during vocation or technical practical examinations, all
institutions will be expected to sanitize all equipment used by one group of
learners before another set uses them.
Dr Wilfed Nahamya, the deputy executive secretary says that the road map
they have released will enable learners to complete the academic syllabus.
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The board will also hold a second registration process for the
second lot of finalists that were initially supposed to sit for examinations in
November and December 2020.
Oyesigye says this group will start registering for examinations
on November 2, 2020, using an online internet portal that will be provided by
the board. The registration process is scheduled to end on November 11, 2020,
before the finalists sit for their examinations in March 2021.
