Three children from Odoot Primary School in Palam Sub County, Katakwi District, are sitting for their Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE) this year while pregnant or with newborn babies.
The report shows that out of the 54 pupils who registered for PLE exams, one delivered on Tuesday, October 31, 2023, at Katakwi Main Hospital, one is still pregnant, and one was married off to her husband in a nearby village.
The candidates’ briefing will commence today, Tuesday, November 7, and the exams will kick off on Wednesday and Thursday of next week.
The Chairperson of the School Management Committee, Julius Aleper, blamed the defilers for constantly affecting the futures of girls while they are still in school.
He also added that, since the inception of the school in 1945, the parents have not been active in contributing to the development fee, unlike this year.
Aleper asked the candidates to stay well with their parents as they go home for a long holiday.
Patrick Ojaamo, the school’s head teacher, said that the teachers have been doing their best to teach the candidates and are hopeful for better results.
Ojaamo said the school’s enrollment stands at 963 pupils with the support of nine government teachers and four support staff.
The thanksgiving function was presided over by Reverend Benard Okiror of the Church of Uganda, who urged the candidates to abstain from sex and concentrate on their education.
The representative of the parents, Simon Atubi, alluded that they are very hopeful of getting first grades from their children since they have been in good working terms with the school administration.
Others, like George William Ogeng, Stephen Otukei, Mary Arionget, Charles Alemukori, and others thanked the government of Uganda for always considering the education sector as key to the country’s development.
Bosco Okiror, the inspector of schools for Katakwi District, said that the district has registered 2,999 pupils to sit for exams, but he also said that cases of young girls getting pregnant are many compared to those carrying newborn babies.
“We welcome all these girls to exams so that their futures may change,” Okiror noted.
He added that the education office is engaging with Katakwi Prisons so that they can release a juvenile who is serving a nine-year jail term to come out and do the exams.
According to our report, one million, two hundred twenty-four thousand, three hundred seventy-one (1,224,371) students have been registered to sit for final examinations in the three education cycles: Primary Leaving Examination (PLE), Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE), and Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE).
The Executive Director of the Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB), Dan Odongo, announced this while releasing the 2023 Examination Time Tables for PLE, UCE, and UACE examinations recently.
The candidates are 51 percent female and 49 percent male.