Police, in collaboration with the Uganda National Examination Board (UNEB), arrested 23 people for engaging in examination malpractice during the recently concluded Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE).
The suspects in custody include examination invigilators and UNEB scouts who allegedly bleached the examination by accepting bribes from some school directors and head teachers in order to assist students in cheating on exams.
According to UNEB, although the two day examination process for primary leavers ended smoothly without any leakages, it did not end without any major challenges such as bribery from some school owners which led to the arrests.
"There were a number of attempts by Head teachers and School Directors to bribe UNEB scouts and invigilators for purposes of permitting external assistance to the candidates," said UNEB public relations officer Jennifer Kalule Musamba after PLE examinations on Thursday.
She said that although many refused the bribes, members of the the public were alert and many whistle blowers reported intended cases of malpractice which were quickly intercepted by both the UNEB security team and the police.
"Many of the UNEB field personnel refused the bribes, and consequently guarded against external assistance at their examination centres, thus upholding the value of integrity and security of examinations," she said.
In Kyebando, the police arrested the director and head teacher of His Grace Primary School, called David Baka together with the chief invigilator identified as Gerald Kakuru and a scout called Brian Lwanga. It is said that the trio cut a security examination envelope containing science papers that had been delivered at around 8:00 am for that particular examination centre.
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
It is alleged that the director the school bribed the invigilators and a scout who were compromised and accepted to cut the examination envelop.
"It appears the intention was to share online and also provide external assistance to the candidates," Jenifer said
A total of 9 invigilators were also arrested along with the trio for being negligent and allowing an attempted malpractice to take place under their watch. The team of 12 awaits facing charges in courts of law.
Relatedly, over 10 scouts and invigilators have been arrested in different parts of the country for attempting to provide external assistance to the candidates.
For instance, in Nabweru a scout who was posted to Lyn Primary school was found writing answers on the black board, for candidates. He was arrested, and pending court appearance on charges of aiding and abetting malpractice in form of external assistance.
In Kajansi, the police have in custody a scout for impersonating a staff of UNEB and attempting to get money by false pretence, from one of the authorities at a school in Lubowa.
Meanwhile reports from Fortportal and Kabarole indicate that the UNEB scouts have reported that there were concerted efforts to try and provide external assistance to candidates in most of the schools but efforts were foiled and the attempted malpractice intercepted.
