The decision sparked emotional scenes at St. Joseph Primary School Musoto, where several parents broke down in tears, describing the move as unfair.
At least 237 pupils from two primary schools in Mbale City have been ordered to repeat Primary Seven after the Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) cancelled their 2025 Primary Leaving Examination (PLE) results over alleged malpractice.
The affected candidates include 178 pupils from St. Joseph Primary School Musoto and 59 from Bumuluya Primary School.
According to a UNEB letter read to parents and pupils by Mbale Deputy City Clerk Jolly Khasoko, investigations revealed irregularities in the Science paper. It was established that some candidates crossed out correct answers and replaced them with incorrect ones, raising suspicion of coordinated malpractice.
Following the findings, UNEB ruled that the affected pupils must resit Primary Seven this year.
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The decision sparked emotional scenes at St. Joseph Primary School Musoto, where several parents broke down in tears, describing the move as unfair. They questioned why invigilators and school authorities had not been held accountable.
“We have been paying everything the school asked for to ensure our children succeed, but now they are the ones being punished,” some parents said.
Mbale City Inspector of Schools, Koko Francis, explained that the pattern of responses pointed to malpractice. He noted that 94 pupils had identical correct answers which they later crossed out and replaced with the same wrong responses, while others shared identical incorrect answers. A similar pattern was observed among the 59 candidates from Bumuluya Primary School.
Tensions escalated when angry parents and pupils reportedly locked the City Inspector of Schools and the Deputy City Clerk inside the school, demanding compensation for the money spent on their children’s education.
The situation was later brought under control by police. Rogers Taitika, the Elgon Sub-region Police spokesperson, said he engaged the parents and appealed for calm.
He urged them to remain peaceful as authorities continue to handle the matter.
UNEB has maintained that cancelling results is necessary to preserve the integrity of national examinations.
