By Walimbwa Moses
UNEB Executive Director Dan Odongo, addressing education inspectors at the UNEB Centre in Kyambogo .
The Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) has warned education officials against examination malpractice, saying fake high marks hide learners’ weaknesses and leave them struggling at the next level of education.
UNEB Executive Director Mr Dan N. Odongo issued the warning on Tuesday, September 22, 2026, at the UNEB Centre in Kyambogo, during a seminar for District, Municipal and City Inspectors of Schools on the management of the Primary Leaving Examination (PLE).
Mr Odongo said inspectors must ensure that head teachers, invigilators and other examination officials understand and follow UNEB rules.
“High pass levels that are fraudulently obtained in a district hide the challenges that actually exist,” Mr Odongo said.
He said genuine results help schools and education authorities to know where learners are performing well and where they need more support.
Mr Odongo said UNEB has encountered cases where learners whose marks were inflated through malpractice later struggled after joining secondary school because they lacked the required knowledge and skills.
He recalled a parent who complained about children who had been helped to obtain good results but later failed to cope.
They cheat for our children. The children are admitted in secondary schools and in the first term they are eliminated because they cannot cope,” Mr Odongo quoted the parent as saying.
He said the experience shows that cheating ends up hurting the same learners whom adults claim to be helping.
Mr Odongo warned that malpractice can lead to cancellation of results, leaving affected learners with nothing to show for seven years of primary education and forcing them to repeat or lose their chance to progress with classmates.“
Can we feel for those children who, after seven years in school, have nothing to show for that period because their results have been cancelled?” he asked.
He also warned against collusion among candidates and the presence of unauthorised people in examination rooms.
Schools involved in malpractice can also lose their examination centre status, depending on the seriousness of the offence.
Mr Odongo urged district officials to put the interests of learners first and take action against people who facilitate malpractice.
He called on district leaders, inspectors, head teachers, teachers and examination officials to work together to protect the credibility of national examinations.
The warning comes as schools prepare for the 2026 national examinations. According to the timetable released by UNEB on September 23, briefing of UCE candidates will begin on October 8. PLE candidates will be briefed on October 30 and UACE candidates on November 7.UNEB has provisionally registered 1,627,885 candidates for the three levels, including 920,796 for PLE, 503,214 for UCE and 203,875 for UACE.
As preparations continue, UNEB has urged schools to follow examination rules and give candidates a fair opportunity to demonstrate what they have learned.