Some 60,310 candidates from 387 examination centres across the country are in the midst of exams organized by the Uganda Business and Technical Examinations Board (Ubteb).
In a statement, the Ubteb executive secretary, Onesmus Oyesigye, said the exams, which started last Friday, will see the board register the highest number of candidates ever.
“This is a positive trend in the conduct of assessment where the board has registered a 10 per cent increase in the number of total candidates since its inception in 2011,” Oyesigye said.
In these 11th examination series, candidature has increased from 55,533 in November/December 2015 to 60,310 candidates in November/December 2016.
Examinations for all candidates registered for National Technical Craft, Uganda Community Polytechnic Certificate, National Certificate and Diploma programmes in Agriculture, Business, Cooperatives, Fisheries, Meteorology, Wildlife, Lands and Survey and Technical Diploma will end on December 16.
Oyesigye said the conduct of exams is unique since it involves candidates sitting for practical and theory examinations that are oriented to Competence-Based Education and Training (CBET). The examinations will later be followed by industrial training.
The board has deployed over 400 inspectors and over 1,000 supervisors to guard against malpractice during the examinations. A further 1,295 practical examiners will be deployed to mark on spot practical examinations of technical, business and ICT courses.
For National Technical Craft and Community Polytechnic programmes, practical examinations shall be done and marked on site by examiners. Other courses like journalism and all courses with computer studies as a module will do a practical examination.
nangonzi@observer.ug