Six primary school teachers were arrested and sent to prison for allegedly having exam papers. The teachers are accused of leaking exam papers for Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE). These exams are for students leaving primary school.
The teachers are named Ms. Daniel Oleja, Mr. Michael Ijalla, Mr. Tendo Lukyamuzi, Mr. Henry Mirembe, Mr. Nasser Sekandi, and Mr. Emmanuel Okechi. They were accused of sharing exam materials on social media.
The teachers were taken to Buganda Road Chief Magistrates Court. They denied the charges. The judge, Ronald Kayizzi, sent them to prison because they couldn’t find people to guarantee their bail.
The prosecution says these teachers had information about the PLE exams for English, Science, Social Studies, and Mathematics for 2023. But it’s not confirmed if these were the real exam papers set by the Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB).
The UNEB and the police arrested these teachers after they shared links on social media with people from different schools.
The investigation is still ongoing. The State wants more time to finish its inquiries and catch more people involved.
A source at UNEB said the teachers pretended to be UNEB officials and sold fake exam papers to school directors and parents. They tricked more than 1,000 people on social media.
According to UNEB’s schedule, the UCE exams have already started, and the PLE exams will take place in November.
The law is clear: anyone caught leaking exam papers can go to jail for 10 years or pay a fine of Shs40 million, as per the UNEB Act of 2021. This law makes it illegal to have unauthorized exam materials or information.
If a new law called the Uneb Bill 2020 passes, cheaters in national exams could face 10 years in jail or a fine of Shs40 million.
