Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) has confirmed the arrest of 55 people, including headteachers and directors of schools, for allegedly attempting to aid examination malpractice during the just-concluded PLE and UCE exams.
The suspects appeared before courts across the country this week.
UNEB Executive Director Dan Odongo warned that penalties for malpractice under the UNEB Act are “severe and not worth the risk.”
“We have made several arrests from different parts of the country. Many of them have appeared in court and we are waiting for verdicts. The penalties are stiff under the UNEB Act , a fine of up to twenty million shillings or five years imprisonment, or both,”
Odongo cautioned.
He revealed that some suspects attempted to offer bribes or external assistance to candidates during exams.
“In the recent PLE, we had challenges where directors and headteachers attempted to participate in offering external assistance. The security forces promptly moved in,”
Odongo explained.
The Board has also released toll-free numbers that the public can use to report malpractice, assuring whistleblowers of full protection.
“Anyone who gives useful information will be protected under the whistleblowers’ policy. But if you deliberately give wrong information, the law will catch up with you,”
he warned.
Odongo stressed that involvement in malpractice could destroy a candidate’s academic future.
“Accepting to be assisted means you will lose your results, and all your hard work will come to nothing. It is very, very unwise,”
he said.
The public is urged to report suspicious activity via toll-free lines: 0800 111 427 | 0800 211 077.Whistleblowers are fully protected under UNEB policy.