UNEB wants PLE aggregate system scrapped to end cheating

Ministers of Education and sports and UNEB officials at the official release of the PLE results
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) has brought back to the table its long-standing proposal to abolish the aggregate-based grading system for the Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE), in a decisive move aimed at dismantling one of the leading drivers of examination malpractice in primary schools.
UNEB Chairperson Prof. Celestino Obua appealed on Friday during the release of the 2025 PLE results at State House, Nakasero, directly linking persistent cheating to the intense pressure on schools to produce candidates with ultra-low aggregates, especially Aggregate 4, widely viewed as the ultimate benchmark of academic excellence.
“This, apparently, is the gold standard by which parents rank schools. I now pray that you allow the Board to reintroduce this proposal for possible approval and implementation,” Obua said, addressing the education minister.
By eliminating the aggregate obsession, UNEB believes it can significantly reduce incentives for malpractice, refocus education on genuine learning, and restore credibility to primary school certification.
The proposal, first tabled in 2021, seeks to replace numerical aggregates with an assessment framework that better reflects competency and individual subject performance. The approach mirrors reforms already implemented at the Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) level, where UNEB replaced the traditional aggregate and division system with letter grades (A-E) under the competency-based curriculum, placing greater emphasis on skills application rather than rote performance.
However, the Ministry of Education shelved the proposal at the time due to disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, with the education system stabilising and malpractice still posing a significant threat, UNEB is pressing for its revival.
Prof. Obua described escalating desperation among some school directors and headteachers, driven largely by parental and societal expectations for top aggregates. He detailed the emergence of sophisticated cheating networks, including schemes in which examination papers are compromised at distribution points.
“When distributors deliver question paper envelopes to centres, some headteachers, working with already compromised scouts, cut them open to access the papers and assist candidates before or during the examination,” he revealed.
Investigations have also uncovered the involvement of some district education officials. Obua cited a breakthrough in Kassanda District, where UNEB’s security team traced the epicentre of a leakage network to a private school.
“During its investigations, the Board’s security team discovered the epicentre as being a private school in Kassanda District. The District Inspector of Schools, the school director, headteacher, invigilators, appointed from Nansana near Kampala, and scouts were arrested,” he said.
The arrests exposed a web of collaborating schools that reportedly received leaked examination materials through WhatsApp groups. So far, eight individuals have been convicted and sentenced, several others are on bail, five remain on remand, and security agencies are continuing the hunt for fugitives.
“The Board, with the support of security agencies, is determined to track down those persons and bring them to book. Their diabolical actions pose a serious threat to our education system. We hope the courts will pass deterrent sentences in accordance with the UNEB Act,” Obua emphasised.
According to UNEB Executive Director Dan Odongo, most cases involving withheld results this year were concentrated in districts such as Kisoro, Kampala, Mukono, Namutumba, Kassanda, Buyende, and Kaliro.
Odongo nevertheless pointed to notable progress in areas once notorious for malpractice along the Rwenzori, Tooro axis. Districts, including Kyenjojo, Kabarole, and Bundibugyo, historically linked to numerous cases, have shown a clear shift away from examination fraud.
From the 2025 PLE cycle, UNEB has secured eight convictions, while 15 cases remain before courts across the country. The Board says efforts to curb malpractice are intensifying, with leakages at the UNEB level declining over time.
New vulnerabilities, however, have emerged at the distribution stage. Some transporters reportedly tamper with examination parcels and share materials before the official start of the papers.
UNEB also warned of increasingly subtle forms of cheating within examination rooms, including writing answers on blackboards and the use of impostors, practices the Board says pose a growing threat to the integrity of national examinations.
****
URN