A tense issue arose when about 100 students in candidate classes, who had not performed well, were denied Uneb registration by the school, leading to complaints from parents. The school resident director Amelia Kyambadde has now assured parents that all issues regarding the expelled students have been resolved.
“We resolved this issue and if there is any student or parent who is not yet registered, they should reach out to us as soon as possible,” Kyambadde explained.
BACKGROUND
In a letter dated May 28, addressed to Uganda National Examinations Board (Uneb), Mary Mutende, commissioner for private schools at the ministry of Education directed the withdrawal of the Uneb examination centre number, accusing the school of acting with impunity “on the part of the director clearly showing that the terminated learners were not going to be considered as earlier agreed in the meeting of 25th May 2024.”
Mutende said she did not find the school’s justification for expelling the learners convincing because the new curriculum focuses more on building skills rather than just getting good grades.
In a meeting attended by parents of the affected students and the school management, it was resolved that the school readmits all the students who had been expelled and allow them to sit for their Uneb exams at the school later this year. But despite the resolution made during the meeting, the school administration according to Mutende, deliberately declined to reverse their decision regarding the students’ expulsion.
“I request you to temporarily block the Uneb registration centre number of Seroma Christian High School Mukono, until they obtain and present a clearance letter to you from the office of the undersigned concerning the above issue. To inform you that this act sabotage’s ministry and Uneb plan of fully implementing the newly approved lower secondary curriculum,” Mutende instructed.
UNEB EXAM CENTRE
In a press release, Uneb) has also clarified that the examination centre at Seroma Christian High School remains operational and has not been withdrawn despite the earlier directive by the ministry of Education.
“The public is hereby asked to disregard social media reports indicating that Uneb has withdrawn the examination centre of Seroma Christian High School for allegedly expelling S4 and S6 students over poor academic performance,” said Dan Odong, the Uneb executive director.
“Uneb would like to clarify that the centre number for Seroma Christian High School has not been ‘withdrawn’ and that the centre has already registered UCE and UACE candidates for 2024.”