An extra Shs 10.4bn needed by UNEB for COVID-19 SOPs during final examinations

An additional UGX 10.465 Billion is needed by the Uganda National Examination Board (UNEB) to ensure that the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) set up to contain the spread of COVID-19 are followed.

Dan Odongo Executive Secretary UNEB made this revelation during an appearance before the Parliament’s Budget Committee to defend the supplementary budget request presented by Hon. David Bahati Finance Minister in Charge of planning.

Government has tabled a supplementary requirement of 292 billion shillings for the financial year 2020/2021.

Odongo told the committee that 1,181,940 candidates were registered to sit examinations this year on the levels. 749,807 candidates are sitting for Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE), 333,766 sitting Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) and 98,367 are for Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE).

According to the Executive Secretary, the Board needs the extra money due to the change in spacing from 1.2meters to the required 2meters due to social distancing requirements and the need for more invigilators to cover the additional rooms that will be used.

UNEB will hire an additional 19,910 invigilators for PLE, with each earning 48,500 shillings, bringing the total to 1.931 billion shillings for the 2 days. If it wasn’t for the COVID-19 Pandemic, only 39,183 invigilators would have been hired.

For UCE, 14,850 invigilators would have been hired in normal circumstances, however due to social distancing, an additional 8,703 will be hired with each receiving 48,500 shillings bringing total to 5.909 billion shillings. UNEB will also require an additional 4,747 invigilators to oversee the UACE for an average 10 days at a cost of 2.302 billion shillings compared to the initial 7,500 invigilators required.