Govt bans pre-registration exams

By Conan Businge

The Ministry of Education has banned pre-registration examinations for Senior Four and Senior Six students in all government and private schools.

In a circular released last week by the permanent secretary, Francis Lubanga, the ministry warned that no school should bar any student from registering for O’level or A’level exams on grounds that they have failed a pre-registration exam.

The directive takes immediate effect.

In an interview, Lubanga explained to Sunday Vision that in all government-aided schools, head teachers who defy the directive will be subjected to disciplinary action. Private schools risk being de-registered. Those participating in universal secondary education could lose government funding as disciplinary measures are initiated against them.

Over the years, many of the prominent schools have been filtering students using pre-registration exams in the first term of Senior Four and Senior Six. Others use the promotional exams in Senior Three and Senior Five to filter out weak students. The aim is to register only the cream so that the school’s performance in O’ and A’ level is high.

But Lubanga said this practice is illegal as it denies potentially good students an opportunity to sit national exams. The ministry decision follows complaints from many parents that their children were being denied Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) registration.

“All school proprietors and or headteachers of all categories of schools are, therefore, directed to desist from this practice and are hereby required to immediately allow students affected by this practice to register within the stipulated time for registration as announced by UNEB,” Lubanga added.

Accordingly, UNEB has extended the registration deadline to accommodate students who may have been left out because of pre-registration exams or any other abnormality.