KAMPALA – Over 100,000 candidates will on Monday commence their Uganda Business and Technical Examinations Board (UBTEB) November/December 2023 examination series across the country.
Onesmus Oyesigye – Board Executive Secretary told the press on Friday that the examinations which began with a briefing on November 17th will run to 15th December 2023 at 624 examination centres.
He noted that they successfully registered a total of 102,132 candidates 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. This is positive growth in the number of candidates enrolled in Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions in Uganda. The girl child numbers have continued to show a positive trend.”
As part of enhancing inclusive education, Oyesigye revealed that they registered a total of 481 candidates with special needs (298 males and 183 females) pursuing various TVET professions.
“Of these candidates, 95 candidates will require special attention. The SNE cases include; Dyslexia, Visual impairment (blind), Hard of hearing (deaf), and Physical disability. The Special needs candidates will be accorded special examination arrangements such as sign language interpreters and transcribers, while others will be accorded extra 30 minutes. The Board has accordingly deployed 95 support personnel to assist candidates with special needs.”
Mr. ES noted that in a bid to minimize the reoccurrence of examination malpractices, the Board directed Heads of Centres to form Examinations Task forces at the institutional level responsible for ensuring examinations are done in compliance with UBTEB rules and standards.
Also, a total of 750 reconnoiters for all phases of examinations have been deployed to ensure vigilance and security of examinations.
“Given the practical and hands-on assessment of some modules, the Board is to deploy 2,685 practical Assessors and verifiers to conduct on-spot assessment of candidates in all the respective fields of study,” he said.
UBTEB encouraged all Heads of centres to adhere to the UBTEB rules and regulations on conduct of examinations and all candidates to desist from involvement in any form of examinations’ malpractices.
“Any form of involvement shall attract severe penalties ranging from cancellation of all results for the entire semester/term, imprisonment or caution.”
At a recent UBTEB event, Janet Museveni, the First Lady and Minister of Education and Sports commended them for the ever-increasing number of female candidates in Technical and Vocational Education and Training – TVET professions, something she says is a big step forward in achieving gender equity.
“This is very commendable and we hope to see more Ugandan youths enrolling in TVET programmes to acquire hands-on skills. In the documentary clips, I have seen a young girl who is in charge of Marine at Uganda Civil Aviation Authority,” she said.
She appealed to young boys and girls to get interested in TVET programmes where the gained skills can enable them start-up income-generating projects or get gainful employment.
“When you see the infrastructure done by candidates in TVET institutions such as staff quarters, renovation of schools in neighborhood, you appreciate the fact that as a country we are on the right track towards building a critical mass of Technicians and other critical human resources for social-economic development.”
She said that TVET graduates must possess practical skills, applied knowledge and appropriate attitudes that match the demands of the world of work.
Mrs. Museveni said that TVET remains Uganda’s number one gateway towards building a skilled workforce for the success of key sectors of the economy.
