By KT Reporter
Six Senior Four students in Apac District have missed sitting for the ongoing Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) examinations that started on Monday.
Five of the candidates are from St. Francisca Girls Secondary School, while one is from Apac Secondary School. Christine Adongo, the Head Teacher of St. Francisca Girls’ SS, confirmed that out of 50 students registered to sit for the exams, only 45 turned up.
She attributed the absenteeism mainly to teenage pregnancies, noting that some girls chose to stay away despite the school’s efforts to support them to complete their final examinations. Others, she said, missed due to personal reasons.
Translation: “You know very well that the girl child faces many interferences. When they return to school from holidays, we give them two weeks before a medical checkup, and if any are found pregnant, we send them home. But for those in Senior Four, we keep them at school so they can sit for their final examinations. There is one who remained, and we are taking good care of her.”
John Justine Edel, the UNEB area supervisor for Apac station 168 and Head Teacher of Apac Secondary School, said the student who missed exams from his school was a transfer student.
Meanwhile, at Apac Seed Secondary School, where all the 199 registered candidates reported for examinations, the Tuesday morning paper started late after invigilators discovered that one candidate’s exam paper was missing.
Edel said the issue was quickly resolved after he delivered an extra paper from another school. He assured that the short delay would not affect the results.
“Usually, when those papers are packed, you can’t guarantee full accuracy,” he explained. “The packing is done using machines, not by manually counting each paper. So, occasionally, you find a shortage. For example, today at Apac Seed, the envelope indicated 203 papers, but upon counting, there were only 198, yet the school has 199 candidates.”
Apac District registered a total of 479 candidates for the UCE exams and 95 candidates for the Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE) examinations.
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