The Executive Director of the Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB), Dan Odongo has warned school headteachers against reporting non existent Special Needs Examination (SNE’s) Candidates.
Odongo said this during a press release at the Uganda Media Center on September 23rd, 2026, while releasing the UNEB timetable.
“It has come to the attention of the board that some Headteachers particularly in primary schools are reporting non existent cases of SNE’s. Others either deliberately or otherwise misrepresent the disability of the candidate. You find they have reported a candidate who has dyslexia while the candidate’s disability is something else. They are talking about low vision when the candidate actually doesn’t have low vision,” Odongo said.
He added that wrong reporting leads to an increase of candidates registered as special needs and the government will assume the country is getting more SNEs, which is not right.
Odongo noted that SNEs are given extra time, and transcribers, to aid them during the examinations, giving them an unfair advantage over others.
The Executive Director also cautioned teachers, parents, guardians, and students against falling victim to scammers who vend fake examination papers
“As we approach examination period, there are scammers out there who will be purporting to have access to UNEB papers and then they will start vending fake papers particularly PLE, issuing set one, then a few days later, set two and towards examination, they give you the final set. Unfortunately gullible members of the public fall for this and spend a lot of money buying these fake papers,” Odongo added.
Additionally, he urged students to stay disciplined more so in term three, because it has been registered that senior four and six candidates become unmanageable and believe they are above school regulations.
“UNEB will not condone any cases of indiscipline. Previously we have had parents running to us telling us that my son or daughter has been sent away from school and now we want you to intervene and force the school to have my child back to do his examination because he is a candidate. We have told them that being a candidate doesn’t immunize your child from following school regulations,” Odongo highlighted.
The Theme for the 2026 Examinations is “Advancing Excellence in Assessment and Certification through Secure, Credible, Inclusive and Innovative Processes.”
The theme recognizes that there are Special Education Needs candidates taking the examinations, and the process must be inclusive, offering accommodations in examination papers and such other considerations that are designed to mitigate the effects of their disabilities.
