UNATU boss blames PLE malpractice on absence of teachers’ Council
By Barbra Anyait
Educationists have renewed calls for the government to fast-track establishment of the National Teachers’ Council (UNATU) as one of the sure ways to ensure quality teaching and improved national examination results and curb malpractice.
This is after the Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) on reported an overall improvement in general performance of candidates in the 2025 Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE) compared to 2024, but with a significant drop in the number of candidates scoring aggregate 4.
According to the results released on Friday, only 338 candidates managed to score aggregate 4, while over 77,000 out of the 817,883 failed the examinations.
While releasing the results at State House Nakasero on Friday last week, the Board’s Chairperson Prof Celestine Obua said that while the figures showed that a higher number of candidates attained better grades compared to previous years, especially in literacy and numeracy, concerns remain about examination malpractice, which continues to threaten the credibility of national assessments.
“Some schools, driven by pressure to produce top aggregates, resort to unethical practices that undermine genuine achievement”, he said.
Responding to these comments, Filbert Baguma, the UNATU Secretary General has attributed this trend partly, to what he describes as unsatisfactory teaching methods and absence of a National Teachers’ Council.
“If we have the National Teachers’ Council in place as a regulator, so that if you are caught in exam malpractice we don’t go into the processes of endless investigations and court processes because the regulatory body will have the mandate to manage instantly and punish culprits”, he told KFM in a telephone interview. Baguma explained that this will help minimize malpractice which happens during examination processes.
The National Teachers Bill, 2024 seeks to among other things; establish the National Teachers Council and mandates the Minister of Education and Sports to appoint members of the Council.
Under the Bill, teachers are also expected to undertake continuous professional development, a move that Baguma said will impose a financial burden on the teachers who are already constrained by poor pay.
