Experts propose progressive national exams

By Conan Businge

Education experts are proposing progressive national examinations to be set by the Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) for both primary and secondary schools.

Currently, the students and pupils write only final examinations for the Primary Leaving Certificate, Uganda Certificate of Education and the Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education.

Students depend on teachers’ termly or end of year examinations for assessment, which are not uniform countrywide.

“We need progressive examinations set by UNEB. But with the costs involved in conducting examinations, we end up doing only end-of-course examinations,” state minister for education John Muyingo said.

He said if resources were available, the country would need to introduce progressive examinations to weigh the children’s potential over time.

Muyingo made the remarks while releasing results for the Uganda Cooperative College, Kigumba Wednesday. These were the last examinations to be set by the institute.

Like all other technical and business colleges in the country, all progressive annual examinations and end-of-course final examinations will now be set by a new board, the Uganda Business and Technical Examinations Board.

Unlike UNEB, which used to set exams for these colleges, the new board sets annual progressive examinations; scores of which form part of the final transcript.

Muyingo said this trend needs to be started in primary and secondary schools. He said he was, however, aware of the fact that it is a costly venture that needs critical planning.

The principal of the Uganda Cooperative College, Samuel Kyaligonza, said out of the 154 candidates who sat for final examinations, 51.3% of them passed, while the rest failed some papers.

This means they will be given a chance to re-sit for the examinations they failed, at the next sitting. Kyaligonza, who was flanked by his council boss, Martin Olobo, said most of the students fail their examinations because they shun mathematics.