KAMPALA – State Minister for Primary Education, Joyce Moriku Kaducu has commended the Uganda Business and Technical Examinations Board (UBTEB) and Technical and Vocational Education and Training Institution heads for maintaining quality standards in examination conduct.
Kaducu was on Wednesday monitoring the UBTEB November/December 2023 examination conduct in Kampala.
By 9 am, the minister was at Nakawa Vocational Training College where she commended the management for a conducive learning environment.
“…it’s really a college that we are proud of because you can see the environment is very conducive. The environment is very clean, peaceful, and demonstrates a true environment for a learning process.”
“We’ve seen the practical sessions; we’ve seen that each learner has got a working space. The case in point is the CCTV camera installation, the wiring process where a learner has got a space to work alone and demonstrate competence,” she added.
She was also impressed that the students were not in a panic mode – noting that it shows they have achieved the required competence.
“In the theory class, it’s a big class to move through. We’ve seen that it’s really a very quiet environment. They were confident there was no evidence no any sign of examination malpractice.”
Kaducu noted that the products produced by the learners were of good quality and could compete on an international market.
“When we look at those doors, those are timbers which are made wooden out of mahogany tree. If you look at the designs, those are modern designs. If you look at the machines, they are really doing an incredible job.”
She implored Ugandans to support these students by buying their products instead of importing similar ones.
“Let’s not look outside Uganda to get these materials. You can buy those here. You can buy tables and chairs here; we can order as the students get to learn.”
The minister commended UBTEB for the increasing number of female students in TVET and urged them to take up courses that were initially seen as male courses.
“When we went to the building section, plumbing work, mechanics, electricity were saw the girls are there in every section. That shows to you that the job market is giving an opportunity to both girls and boys.”
Mr. Muwanga Godfrey, principal Nakawa Vocational Training College appreciated UBTEB and the government but decried the high cost of the materials used.
He revealed that it costs them about 1,200,000 shillings to train a single student in terms of materials per module.
He also noted that they are challenged by industries that are not very responsive to accept their instructors for training at any time, especially in specialized modules, which require new tools and equipment.
Also, he noted that they have got so many students compared to the limited space they have.
“This institution was established with an objective of training 200 students maximum but we have over 1500 students.”
Ms. Harriet Kagezi, Principal Ntinda Vocational Training Institute decried the shortage of staff – noting that out of over 30 staff, only 8 are on the government payroll.
“The rest we pay them on locally generated funds and we hope that in the next financial year, we shall have a boost.”
On the issue of expensive materials, she tipped the government to tax-exempt the suppliers which raises the prices.
“Since these materials are for study purposes, they should be tax exempted to become manageable.”
Dr. Wilfred Nahamya – Deputy UBTEB Executive Secretary underscored that the conduct of examinations is going very well.
“The different practicals that are being assessed, the procedures are being followed, the supervisors are doing good work. I was very impressed at Nakawa Vocational Institute. Even the theory exams, the way they were arranged, generally it was a very good examination environment.”
“I want to thank the principals because the materials are enough, I didn’t see a situation where the learners are waiting for certain materials to start on the exams,” he added.
Over 100,000 students are writing their UBTEB November/December 2023 examination series across the country at 624 examination centres.
According to Mr. Onesmus Oyesigye – Board Executive Secretary, a total of 102,132 candidates were regiatered for this particular series compared to July-August’s 64,387 candidates, the highest number of candidates registered since the covid-19 lockdown.
Of these candidates, 34,822 are female and 67,310 are male.
