P7 Results Released

By John Eremu and Milton Olupot LAST year's Primary Leaving Examinations results were released yesterday, with over 10,000 candidates having their results either cancelled or withheld over cheating. Statistics from the Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) showed a slight decline in performance at division one and two levels compared to last year's. Kampala district performed best with 29.3% of the candidates passing in division one followed by Rukungiri with 16.3% and Mbarara third with 15.7%. The worst district was Katakwi with 0.6% of the candidates in division one, followed by Kumi 0.9% and Adjumani 1%. The best candidates in Kampala were Ignatius Nyamutale from Nakasero Primary School, Pamela Mugerwa from Green Hill Academy, Benjamin Ndyareeba - Kampala Parents School and Timothy Arinaitwe and Alice Nakku both from City Parents' School. Kampala Parents last year produced the top three candidates in the district. UNEB secretary Matthew Bukenya said the number of candidates who registered for the examinations last year rose by 57,731 (20%) from 284,201 in 1999 to 341,932. A total of 30 inmates from Murchison Bay/Upper Prisons, Luzira, also did the examinations with 28 of them passing. Of the 315,136 candidates who sat all the four examination papers, 23,688 (7.8%) passed in division one down from 30,710 (11.4%) in 1999. Overall, 238,942 candidates (78.4%) passed (division 1 - 4) compared to the previous year's 81.1%. The grades exclude the results of the 10,500 candidates from 221 centres cancelled or withheld. Education ministry Permanent Secretary F.X. Lubanga, UNEB chairman Dr. Wana Etyam, and the commissioner for inspectorate, Mr. Fagil Mandy, were among those who attended the function at the ministry's headquarters. Etyam released "The dirty list of 10 top cheating districts." They included Mbale with 19 centres, Kasese 18, Kabarole and Masaka each with 17, Mpigi 15, Kamuli 14, Mukono 13, Iganga and Kibaale 12 each and Mbarara 10. "UNEB has accordingly decided that any centre caught cheating for the second time will have their centre number withdrawn indefinitely and the Ministry of Education will be asked to cancel the licence," he warned. Etyam narrated a bizarre incident of how a headteacher and a district inspector of schools tried to bribe a UNEB official when caught red-handed assisting candidates. He displayed two pieces of Kitenge materials delivered to the UNEB official as an inducement. He declined to name both the school and the official, saying the matter was with the Police. State minister for primary education Mrs. Namirembe Bitamazire said the Universal Primary Education programme had raised the number of children sitting for PLE. This, she said, had also increased the need for more secondary schools. She urged the private sector to invest in secondary and technical education to supplement government efforts. Ends