UNEB has released the national exams timetable for the 2023 candidates at primary, ordinary and advanced levels of education.
Dan Odongo, the UNEB Executive Director announced on Wednesday that the national exams will commence on October 13 and end on December 1.
“This year's national examinations will commence on Friday October 13, with the briefing of UCE candidates. The first papers will be Geography on October 16, 2023. The UCE examination will run until November 17, 2023. The second series of the examinations is the PLE which will be conducted from November 7-9, 2023, starting with the briefing of the candidates. The third and final set of the examinations, UACE, will be conducted from November 10 to December 1, 2023,” Odongo said.
He urged the examination centres to ensure every candidate receives a copy of the time table, and that the same is also displayed on the school noticeboards.
“ Centre heads can access the time tables from their portals. Hard copies will also be provided along with the other stationery, which will be distributed from Monday September 11, 2023.”
According to UNEB, braille versions of the UCE and UACE timetables have also been provided for special needs education candidates who have visual impairment.
Toughens on malpractice
The UNEB Executive Director warned candidates and teachers to take note of the new directions against exam malpractice in and around examination rooms.
“These have clearly spelt out the instructions that candidates must follow and cases of examination malpractice that can lead to disqualification, cancellation of results or arrest of a candidate. The candidates must further note that involvement in malpractice in one paper shall lead to cancellation of entire results of the examination,” Odongo said.
He urged parents to take interest in the precautions highlighted on the time table, and counsel the learners accordingly.
“Headteachers must use the time table and other documents supplied by UNEB to thoroughly brief the candidates. Evidence from past examinations indicates that a lot of candidates whose results have been withheld or cancelled were often those who were not briefed by the headteachers. Schools should make effective use of the remaining time to provide the required academic guidance and teaching, so as to avoid the temptation to indulge in malpractice.”
Candidate registers
Article 4(2) of the UNEB Act 2021 compels examination centers to display candidates' lists, 60 days before the date for the commencement of the national examinations.
The UNEB Executive Director said the display of candidates register will commence on August, 14 , asking heads of centres to display the registers in a conspicuous place at the school notice boards.
“The purpose of the display is to enable candidates to confirm registration status as well as the correctness of their bio-data. Candidates should look out for correctness of names as well as the order of names, date of birth, gender, resolution of the candidates' photograph, as well as the subjects and papers registered for in the case of UCE and UACE candidates,” Odongo said.
“ After confirming registration status, candidates should sign on a parallel register to confirm correctness of the registration data. Where anomalies in the candidate's bio-data are found, candidates should inform the school authorities, who shall alert UNEB for correction of the variance.”
A total of 1,224,371 candidates will sit for this year’s national PLE(749,371), UCE(364421) and UACE(110,579) exams.