The Ministry of Education and Sports has issued a directive instructing all school heads to immediately permit every registered candidate to write their ongoing Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) examinations, regardless of whether they have uncleared school fees or operational charges.
The order was triggered by a wave of public complaints revealing that several headteachers across the country had blocked fully registered learners from entering examination rooms over unpaid school dues.
Speaking on behalf of the ministry, Ministry of Education and Sports Spokesperson Dr Dennis Mugimba explained that the Minister took action to safeguard candidates who have been duly registered with the Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB).
"It has been drawn to the attention of the Acting Minister of Education and Sports, Dr John Chrysostom Muyingo, that some schools are denying UNEB-registered candidates who have outstanding school fees and/or charges from sitting their end-of-cycle examinations," Dr Mugimba said. "Therefore, the Acting Minister of Education and Sports has directed that any UNEB-registered candidate must be allowed to sit his or her end-of-cycle exams irrespective of whether he or she has any outstanding school fees or charges owed to the respective school."
Rather than turning candidates away at the examination center gates, the ministry outlined a clear administrative mechanism for headteachers to recover unpaid balances without disrupting national assessment schedules.
"It is the responsibility of the respective headteacher to officially communicate to the Uganda National Examinations Board the particulars of candidates who have sat their end-of-cycle exams before clearing outstanding school fees or charges to enable UNEB withhold the results of such candidates," Dr Mugimba stated. "It is further the responsibility of the responsible headteacher to formally inform UNEB when to release the results of any candidate whose results had been withheld on account of non-payment of outstanding school fees or charges."
Addressing concerns over financial penalties, the ministry clarified that candidates allowed to sit their papers prior to clearing dues will not be subjected to extra surcharges.
"Any outstanding school fees or charges by UNEB-registered candidates who were allowed to sit their end-of-cycle exams prior to settling such dues shall not incur any penalty or fee," Dr Mugimba added, emphasizing that the directive applies across all administrative levels. "The media fraternity, public, school proprietors and foundation bodies, Chairpersons of School Management Committees and Boards of Governors, headteachers, education administrators at all levels of government, and the Executive Director of UNEB are hereby informed."
The Ministry rooted the enforcement of the directive in existing legal frameworks, citing Section 3(1) of the Education (Pre-Primary, Primary, and Post-Primary) Act, 2008, which mandates the minister responsible for education to ensure national policies and constitutional objectives are upheld at all levels of learning. Under Section 3(2)(a) of the same Act, the minister is empowered to initiate necessary education policies and reforms as circumstances arise.
The policy directive comes amid reports of examination access disputes during the opening days of the nationwide exercise. UNEB Spokesperson Ms Jenifer Kalule confirmed that a candidate in Bugiri District was turned away on the opening day over uncleared fees. Despite repeated government guidelines advising schools to let defaulters write their exams and withhold results later, similar incidents have historically disenfranchised learners.
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Notwithstanding the administrative friction, Ms Kalule noted that day two of the national examinations proceeded smoothly across the country, with candidates sitting for the English Language paper in the morning and History and Political Education in the afternoon.
"For History and Political Education, there was an extension of 15 minutes from two hours and 15 minutes that were allocated on the timetable to two hours and 30 minutes," Ms Kalule explained. "This came up as a result of the pretest exercises done by the board. Management presented the findings to the board and it approved the extra 15 minutes following feedback from learners that they need more time."
Ms Kalule also highlighted a remarkable incident in Soroti District, where a female candidate successfully delivered a baby mid-examination.
"At Light Secondary School in Soroti, one of the candidates delivered a baby boy during the morning paper," Ms Kalule disclosed. "Fortunately, there was a school nurse who contacted the nearby health center to support the young lady, and she was able to write both her morning paper and afternoon paper safely. We pray and hope that she will be able to write other papers. Mother and baby were reported to be doing well."
Written national examinations for Senior Four candidates officially commenced on Monday, October 12, with Mathematics in the morning followed by Chemistry in the afternoon. A total of 503,214 candidates registered for the 2026 UCE examinations, comprising 238,426 males and 264,788 females.
This year's sitting marks a major milestone in Uganda's education sector, as the current cohort represents the third group of learners to be assessed under the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC). The examinations, running under the theme "Advancing excellence in assessment and certification through secure, credible, inclusive and innovative processes," will conclude on November 3 following final papers in foreign languages including Latin, German, French, Arabic, and Chinese.