UNEB innovation is commendable
Dec 29, 2009
A newly launched short message service (SMS) will enable students who sit national examinations to get their results immediately after they are released by the Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB).
A newly launched short message service (SMS) will enable students who sit national examinations to get their results immediately after they are released by the Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB).
With the SMS service, students in candidate classes countrywide will also be able to check their examination registration status before sitting the examinations. In addition, UNEB has launched a new design of examination certificates to curb the rampant forgery of academic transcripts and impersonation.
This is a whiff of fresh air and it is commendable that UNEB is putting technology to good use. Many candidates have suffered at the hands of unscrupulous headmasters who used to collect examination fees without remitting it to UNEB.
Quite often, this used to be found out when it was too late and the culprits had already fled. Head teachers and school proprietors will also be able to use the service to verify the results of students who want to apply for vacancies in their schools.
The SMS innovation also demonstrates that with insight, many of the problems that dog the educational system in the country can reasonably be solved.
However, every innovation has its pitfalls. While the SMS service may solve the problem of the rural poor travelling long distances to see their results, it is also poor students who sit for examinations without having fully paid up their school fees.
This is going to be a problem to school administrators and proprietors. The only way schools in the past could ensure that indebted students pay up was through withholding their results.
With the introduction of the SMS service, this is not going to be possible. Defaulters who receive their results might find no reason to go back to the same school and look for another school. The Ministry of Education needs to address this bottleneck so that the innovation is a win-win deal.
With the SMS service, students in candidate classes countrywide will also be able to check their examination registration status before sitting the examinations. In addition, UNEB has launched a new design of examination certificates to curb the rampant forgery of academic transcripts and impersonation.
This is a whiff of fresh air and it is commendable that UNEB is putting technology to good use. Many candidates have suffered at the hands of unscrupulous headmasters who used to collect examination fees without remitting it to UNEB.
Quite often, this used to be found out when it was too late and the culprits had already fled. Head teachers and school proprietors will also be able to use the service to verify the results of students who want to apply for vacancies in their schools.
The SMS innovation also demonstrates that with insight, many of the problems that dog the educational system in the country can reasonably be solved.
However, every innovation has its pitfalls. While the SMS service may solve the problem of the rural poor travelling long distances to see their results, it is also poor students who sit for examinations without having fully paid up their school fees.
This is going to be a problem to school administrators and proprietors. The only way schools in the past could ensure that indebted students pay up was through withholding their results.
With the introduction of the SMS service, this is not going to be possible. Defaulters who receive their results might find no reason to go back to the same school and look for another school. The Ministry of Education needs to address this bottleneck so that the innovation is a win-win deal.