TRANSPARENCY: CoST Uganda Commissions 2nd Infrastructure Transparency Index
Shift Media News 
By Gladys Kabanda Nakazzi
Excelling in an examination is every student’s and academic institution’s wish but sometimes things don’t turn out the way one thinks.
Being desperate to win makes some pupils/institutions to put themselves in a situation of cheating in order to pass.
One thing an exam taker should appreciate is that examinations are not set to fail one but to assess one’s ability and how much one grasped during the course of study. However, it should be noted that it is those who attended classes regularly with a focused mind who pass these exams.
Next week on Monday 4th & Tuesday 5th Nov 2019, the candidates will be sitting their Primary Leaving Examinations after seven years. At least 695,793 have registered and are expected to write their PLE in 8000 centres as noted by the secretary of UNEB-Daniel Odongo.
This time around, the examination board (UNEB) is very vigilant to ensure that the vice of cheating doesn’t surface in all the schools but anyhow, this takes a joint effort.
With the strategies put down by UNEB in order to curb examination malpractice like using Education Management Information system (EMIS) numbers instead of school names this year, a new PLE coding system generated by UNEB will be used by schools so as to avoid bias especially when marking a particular school.
On top of that invigilators, scouts, supervisors, police, monitors have been deployed to oversee the examination progress as noted by UNEB Secretary, Dan Odongo.
Today the 1st of November, 2019, pupils have been briefed by the head of institutions and teachers as per the UNEB (Uganda National Examination Board) guidelines. In some schools, parents have been invited to be part of the group that briefs the pupils.
This is meant to reinforce what the school staff have told them and to comfort them that they will be successful in the forthcoming examinations. With this kind of arrangement, we as stakeholders in Education hope that these pupils will walk in the examination rooms without any external assistance/examination malpractice as they start the first step of “writing their future”
Despite the fact that guidelines on implementation of the curriculum, syllabus, and examination uptake are in place as tracked by the Ministry of Education and UNEB respectively, it is unfortunate that the vice of examination malpractice has taken up some of our education institution in this country-Uganda.
This is mainly brought about by teachers who fail to complete the syllabus in time, teaching using theories without presenting practical scenarios, lack of integrity, professionalism, and patriotism for this country.
Children should always be taught using practical lessons so as to check on the effect of cramming which leads to superficial learners who know a lot during the examination period and forget it as soon as exams are done.
As we ponder on what to do in order to avoid cheating of examinations, the “aggregate four syndromes” in our country should also be checked. It is very common to find that parents want their sons and daughters to attain aggregate four (4) without minding about the child’s ability, knowledge, and attitude.
This kind of expectation from the parents has put many schools in a situation of ensuring that all children attain aggregate four, but this is a myth, all children in a class can’t be genius, the majority are usually mediocre who are always struggling to pass.
With inclusive education in place, stakeholders in the education sector should appreciate that children should be taught well and only helped to find their level as they move along their academic journey.
Helping them find their level in academics will eventually help them to find their potential and they will capitalise on that to realise their dream without putting much emphasis on only passing exams at a lower level.
Teachers should prepare, set the target and teach their learners to also do the same as we overcome the challenges of cheating in exams
Teachers should stick to the time table and avoid wasting time. They should go an extra mile when teaching so as to ensure that learners achieve as much as they can during the lesson presentation. They should train the pupils to be independent and to stand alone when writing examinations right from an early stage because they will have so many exams to write in the future and this is only the beginning.
Students should be guided on how to have an independent mind, they should be taught how to apply knowledge and to think between the lines .
Teaching them well will give them confidence to sit examinations without thinking of cheating.
Nevertheless, cheating of exams should not be entertained so as to redeem the academic excellence of this country which was once a major export. This time around, let us hope that all those who will be in charge of invigilating the examinations, marking and recording the results at the end of the process will do so with a great degree of integrity.
On top of the guidelines put up by UNEB to overcome examination malpractice, I am also thinking that the board should be in total control of what is published in regard to results because the “laissez-faire” environment in our country has pushed some schools to publish wrong results in the name of showing the public that they are the best in regard to academic excellence. This should be strictly checked in the future so as to overcome the challenges of competition in the academic arena.
All in all, people managing the examinations right from those who set, type, pack, deliver, invigilate, supervise, monitor, scout, mark, check and record the results into the computers should adhere to the principle of integrity and professionalism.
This will go a long way in saving our country from the vice of examination malpractice which is like “cancer affecting the Education Sector”.
Gladys S.N Kabanda, Kampala
The writer is an Ass. Director- Busega Prep School
#Management and Leadership Consultant
#gsnk.consult@gmail.com
