The Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) has asked Parliament for funds to set up Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras at marking centres to reduce on the possibility of malpractice during the examination marking process.
Dan Nokorach Odong, the executive secretary of UNEB, said setting up CCTV cameras was one of the tools the secretariat wants to use to monitor the marking process. He did not, however, point out at the exact amount of money needed for the project.
Odong made the remarks while presenting their budget framework paper for the 2019/2020 financial year to the education committee at Parliament on Thursday. John Twesigye (Bunyaruguru County), the committee’s vice-chairperson, asked the secretariat if they had their own marking centres where the cameras would be set up.
Odong said UNEB has contracts with schools, whose premises they use during the marking process.
“We have three-year contracts with some schools, so when we install the cameras, we have time to use them,” he said.
Jacob Opolot (Pallisa County), the chairperson of the committee, wondered whether it would not be costly to keep removing the cameras after every marking session. Odong denied allegations of malpractice in UNEB, saying there are systems in place that ensure transparency during the setting of examinations.
“Those who are involved in the examination setting process are locked up in a place for 60 days without any contact to the outside world. There is also adequate security inside and outside the printing premises,” he said.
The lawmakers, however, said students are not to be blamed for the malpractices, but the secretariat, because it is the one in charge of setting and marking the papers. “How can the candidate be responsible for malpractice when they do not know what is being set in the examinations,” Isaac Etuka, (Upper Madi County)? Asked.
Odong blamed the malpractice on parents, whom he said bribe supervisors to provide their children with answers during the examination sitting process.
“The supervisors are under the control of the district, not UNEB, all we do is pay them. They are over 40,000 people and when dealing with such a big number, you are likely to find a corrupt one,” Odong said.