Posted Wednesday, November 7 2012 at 02:00
A 14-year-old girl in Kasese District endured two
days of due labour to sit this year’s Primary Leaving Examinations
(PLE), which were characterised by many interesting tit bits, including
very old candidates. The oldest candidates were a 56-year-old
grandmother in northern Uganda and a 37-year-old pastor in Kabarole
District.
The 14-year-old expectant mother (names withheld)
struggled with labour pains on the first day and the school hired for
her a midwife to be by her side in a private room at Nyakasanga Primary
Healthcare clinic, about a kilometre from her school.
“I decided to come and sit the exams because I
thought I could, despite being pregnant. I am sure to complete this
paper before giving birth to my first child,” she said.
Ministry of Education regulations permit girls to continue with their education even when they are pregnant.
Ministry of Education regulations permit girls to continue with their education even when they are pregnant.
“At the end of the first exam (mathematics), the
supervisors told us that the girl’s condition changed and that she had
pain. We rushed her to hospital where she was kept until the time to sit
the afternoon exam. She told us she was ready to continue,” said Mr
Joshua Munzomba, the headteacher.
When she did not deliver, the District Education
Officer, Mr George Mainja, intervened by allowing the girl to sit the
exams in a special care room under the guard of a police woman. A
midwife attending to her, Ms Doloroza Muhindo, told the Daily Monitor
that the girl was still experiencing the first stages of labour.
Meanwhile, there was a short interruption at
Kitengeesa Church of Uganda Primary School PLE centre in Buwunga
Sub-county after 17 candidates from Nakiyaga Model Primary School began
shaking their heads and shouting at the top of their voices shortly
after they started their papers. The school sits its pupils at
Kitengeesa because it doesn’t have a centre number.
A pastor was called in to conduct prayers and the
pupils stopped the shouting and resumed writing their papers. The
headteacher of the school, Mr Abdu Mubiru, said the symptoms started
manifesting among the pupils several weeks ago but their cause is not
clearly understood.
After the incident some pupils were taken in a
police ambulance to Masaka Regional Referral Hospital for medical
examination but the doctors said preliminary check-ups did not reveal
any sickness. The cause of their problem continues to be a mystery.
Denis Wokorach, a P7 pupil at Panyimur Primary School in Nebbi District, endured a heart condition to sit through the two days of examinations.
Denis Wokorach, a P7 pupil at Panyimur Primary School in Nebbi District, endured a heart condition to sit through the two days of examinations.
He sat on a mattress while being attended to by
his grandmother in the examination room. Wokorach looked pale. He
occasionally feels dizzy, has to rest and resume answering questions
later.
His father had earlier stopped him from doing his
PLE exams because of his sickness but Wokorach insisted that he would do
them as long as he could hold a pen.
Police in Kasanda Sub-county, Mubende District, yesterday arrested Namabaale Umea Primary School deputy head teacher for alleged involvement in Primary Leaving Examinations malpractice.
Police in Kasanda Sub-county, Mubende District, yesterday arrested Namabaale Umea Primary School deputy head teacher for alleged involvement in Primary Leaving Examinations malpractice.
According to the Officer in charge of Kasanda
Police Station, Ms Patience Baganzi, they have arrested the deputy head
teacher and the impersonator and are helping police in investigations.
Also summoned by police is the head mistress.
The suspect had been asked by the head teacher to
sit for another pupil who left school due to pregnancy. However, the
invigilators identified the anomalies in the passport photos when they
realised that the candidate who was sitting for the paper did not
correspond with the one on the Uneb album.
Police also arrested the director Holy Generation
Nursery and Primary School for allegedly embezzling his pupils’
registration fees. Thirteen candidates could not appear for PLE after
they found out that the school had not registered them with the
examinations board.
The director (name withheld) allegedly collected
Shs110,000 from each pupil as registration fees for Uneb and pocketed
it, instead of remitting the money to the examination body.
The Mayuge District Police Commander, Mr Martin Okoyo, said they
acted on complaints from the parents who saw their children not sitting
for exams. Mr Mathew Bukenya, the Uneb executive secretary, has warned
before against malpractice and those involved risk losing school centres
and results.
Reported by: A. Kirunda, G. Mayengo, I. Masaka, P. Okaba, A. Tumushabe, R. Muhereza
& P. Ahimbisibwe
Accessed on Wednesday 7 Nov. 2012 from the Daily Monitor:http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/Pupil+sits+exam+while+in+labour/-/688334/1613388/-/item/0/-/7njup2/-/index.html
& P. Ahimbisibwe
Accessed on Wednesday 7 Nov. 2012 from the Daily Monitor:http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/Pupil+sits+exam+while+in+labour/-/688334/1613388/-/item/0/-/7njup2/-/index.html
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