By Mike Sebalu
The Uganda Allied Health Examinations Board (UAHEB) has written to the Minister of Education and Sports seeking clearance to cancel semester examination results for four candidates accused of engaging in examination malpractice.
Four candidates are said to have engaged in examination malpractice during the November/ December 2022 final year examinations. According to the board, the candidates were found with written examination notes.
Speaking at the release of these results at the office of the Prime Minister in Kampala last Friday, the Executive Secretary of Uganda Allied Health Examinations Board (UAHEB) Mr. Joseph Angondua, said a fair hearing was conducted and a recommendation agreed upon to have the results cancelled.
“In accordance with part 5 section 38 of the Uganda Allied Health Examinations Board rules, the board provided a fair hearing to the affected candidates and examiners before recommendations were made regarding their fate. The board, therefore, recommended that the semester results of the four candidates who entered the examination room with unauthorized materials be cancelled. Hon Minister, the board hereby seeks your approval for the cancellation of the semester examination result of the four candidates,” Angondua said.
In the released results, a total of 19,697 candidates were assessed in 29 Allied Health Training Programmes under the programmes of higher diploma (7 in number), diploma (17), and certificate programmes (5) in 71 Allied health training institutions.
According to Mr. Angondua, the results of the continuing students were discussed, approved, and released by the board to the respective institutions.
Of the total assessed students, a total of 3,768 were in the final year and all the candidates who registered turned up for the examinations. Of these, 3,768 final-year candidates assessed, 2,008 (53%) were males and 1,760(47%) were female. Additionally, 227 (6%) were for higher diplomas, 174 (4.6% were for diplomas, and 3,367 (89.4% were candidates for certificate programmes.
The commissioner for health, education and training at the Ministry of Education and Sports, Dr. Safinah Musene, informed the public that many vacancies are available in different institutions to those people who would wish to join the health profession, education, and training for those with entry requirements.
“I want to make a call, especially to the programmes that the executive secretary was presenting with lower enrolment. We have a pos-basic programme in ear, nose, throat, and neck surgery, audiology, clinical psychiatry, anaesthesia, paediatric nursing, public health nursing among others where we get health professionals already studied but want to upgrade to a higher diploma,” Musene said.
“I want to call upon all those qualified health professionals to come up for these programmes since they are critically needed and they serve mainly in the rural and low-level health facilities where we may not have a medical doctor specialist in those areas but also they support the medical doctor specialists to deliver those services,” she added.
The chairperson of the education and sports committee of parliament, Mr. Twesigye John Ntamuhiira (MP Bunyaruguru County) said they are waiting for the BITVET amendment act or the TIVET bill to handle the matter appropriately.
