Vision Reporters
2 November 2009
Kampala — A PUPIL in western Uganda yesterday developed labour pains and gave birth to a bouncing baby moments after the social studies examination got underway.
Fiona Bbaale, said to be 18, got restless during the exam, drawing the attention of her supervisors.
"The pain struck sometime after the beginning of the paper. On inquiring what was wrong, the supervisors realised that the girl was pregnant," said Deogratius Byakagaba, the Masindi district education officer.
As her colleagues at Kiryandongo Primary School continued scribbling away, Bbaale was dashed to Kiryandongo Hospital where she delivered a baby-girl.
The superintendent, Jimmy Yiga, said both the mother and baby were in good condition. But Bbaale did not have much time to enjoy her new-born baby. She immediately rushed back to school and sat for English that had been scheduled for the afternoon. Medical workers nursed the baby in her absence.
Bbaale had dropped out of school earlier this year when she discovered she was pregnant.
Head teacher Severino Odia said she returned and was allowed to continue with her studies. Six other pupils in Mihembero Primary School in Masindi also sat their PLE exams while pregnant, Byakagaba said.
A total of 516,890 pupils yesterday began their end of primary examinations, which end today.
The exams went well across the country except for Kibaale district where they kicked off after midday because of a delay in the delivery of the scripts.
According to the district inspector of schools, Patrick Munyole, the question papers arrived at 9:30am, causing a ripple effect that saw schools starting almost three hours late.
Transporters of question papers were flagged off at 11:20am. "As a district, we were ready to receive the examination papers even at midnight," said Munyole.
Despite the hitch, he was optimistic that the pupils would sit for both papers before sunset.
District education secretary George Kibaale Bizibu, however, feared that it would affect the performance.
Delays were also recorded in Bugiri district, where pupils started responding to questions 30 minutes late. UNEB district monitor Zipollah Atieno attributed the delay to the bad roads.
In Kampala, the exercise was smooth. The New Vision established no major bottlenecks.
"The papers arrived in time," said Fred Ssenkooto, the head teacher of Sir Apollo Kaggwa Primary School in Mengo. "All the students turned up for the examinations. We anticipate a smooth examination period."
At Ntinda School of the Deaf, the supervisors were overwhelmed by the number of pupils with special needs.
Sarah Kayiza, a supervisors, said 52 deaf candidates sat the papers. Among them were pupils from the schools for the deaf in Wakiso and Mulago.
"Sometimes pupils raise their hands at the same time, making it difficult to attend to them at once," she noted.
Realising that the pupils could not work at the same pace as the others, they were allocated an extra 30 minutes. The head teacher, Mary Tumuhairwe, appealed to the Uganda National Examination Board to increase the number of interpreters for the deaf next year.
At Yudesi Primary School on Gayaza Road, a computer register from UNEB had not arrived by 10:00am but that did not affect business for the 77 pupils.
UNEB spokesperson Eva Konde said the first day of PLE saw no major problems except for a school in Bukomansimbi in Masaka district, where the administration reportedly tried to block students who had failed to clear school fees.
(Reported by Herbert Ssempogo, Pascal Kwesiga, Jeff Lule, Ismael Kasooha, Moses Bikala and Juliet Waisswa)
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