Govt to pay for S4 repeaters

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By Martin Kitubi, Nelson Kiva and Simon Masaba

The Government will cater for candidates of the old curriculum who wish to repeat Senior Four at any Universal Secondary Education (USE) implementing school.

First Lady and Minister for Education and Sports Mrs Janet Museveni, made the announcement on Thursday, February 15, 2024, while releasing the 2023 Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) exam results at State House, Nakasero in Kampala.

According to the First Lady, the education ministry shall communicate to all headteachers to collect information to facilitate allocation of resources for this category.

Mrs Museveni said the ministry has agreed that learners who wish to repeat Senior Four be given ample time to retake exams this year.

“As a ministry, we have agreed that these learners who are going to repeat Senior Four need ample time to prepare to re-take UCE in 2024 based on the old lower secondary curriculum,” she said.

The roadmap

According to her, the ministry analysed the situation and came to the agreement that no learner repeating Senior Four under the old Lower Secondary Curriculum, shall be disadvantaged in the transitional arrangement.

Subsequently, she guided that Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) will undertake further studies and formulate a roadmap, which shall be communicated to the public once it is ready.

The roadmap, the First Lady said, will enable preparations for registering those who are to repeat Senior Four. The 2023 exams are the last UCE examination series held under the old knowledge-based O’level curriculum.

The First Lady’s communication on repeaters implies that the earlier plans by UNEB to have the examination for repeaters in June/July, has been changed.

It should be noted that UNEB last week issued a call to district education officers, asking them to identify centres or halls where repeaters would be registered to prepare them re-sit the 2023 UCE exams. But this arrangement will now be reviewed and a new communication will be made.

Transition

The First Lady lauded UNEB for a good job done in ensuring that there is a smooth transition from and closure of the old lower secondary curriculum end of cycle examinations to the new competence-based curriculum.

Mrs. Museveni encouraged all eligible persons who wish to repeat UCE under the old lower secondary curriculum to take this single window of opportunity in 2024. She urged them to register for UCE once UNEB makes the new announcement.

She emphasised that the 2024 UCE examinations will be based on the new lower secondary school competence-based curriculum.

She added that learners who are repeating O’level under the old curriculum shall not be subjected to the assessment and examination processes of the revised curriculum and that UCE certificates shall clearly show this distinction.

“I am also grateful to hear from the UNEB chairman that the board has embarked on stakeholder engagements. The revised lower secondary curriculum introduces a fundamental shift in methods of teaching and learning. So, creating awareness and getting the buy-in from all the persons whose involvement and participation is critical in its implementation, is essential,” she said.

UNEB on repeaters

Prof. Celestino Obua, the UNEB chairperson, explained that the board has undertaken measures to address challenges related with the transition.

According to Obua, the board will administer a one-off transitional examination, which will be administered later in the year and that the exact timeline will be communicated later.

According to Obua, there are only four categories of candidates who will be eligible to write the planned transitional examination.

The eligible persons will include those who sat the 2023 UCE examinations but would wish to repeat the examinations, candidates who registered but did not sit the examination.

It will also target candidates who dropped out due to illness or such other conditions.

According to Obua, the target candidates for the transitional exams shall include those who missed the registration for the 2023 examination for various reasons and adult learners studying on their own or at any learning facility.