By Norbert Mao
The Ministry of Education and Sports has warned schools against imposing penalties or extra charges on candidates who sit UNEB examinations before clearing their outstanding school fees.
The Ministry says schools must allow all UNEB-registered candidates to sit their examinations, regardless of whether they have outstanding fees.
The directive is contained in a press statement dated October 13th, and signed by the Ministry’s spokesperson, Dr. Dennis K. Mugimba following reports that some schools were blocking candidates from sitting examinations over unpaid fees.
The Ministry says such a practice is illegal under the Education (Pre-Primary, Primary and Post-Primary) Act, 2008.
Under the new directive, headteachers are required to notify UNEB about candidates who have outstanding school fees, so that their examination results can be withheld until the fees are cleared.
Once a candidate pays the outstanding fees, the headteacher must inform UNEB to facilitate the release of the withheld results.
However, the Ministry has stressed that schools must not impose any penalty or additional fee on candidates who were allowed to sit examinations before clearing their balances.
