16,000 examiners to mark PLE, UCE as UNEB sets new UACE grading
Pupils write their PLE exams. FILE PHOTO
What you need to know:
- Director Namirembe Hillside High School, Dr Hillary Kiiza said that, the new system demands that a student offering a subject with two papers must have distinctions in all their papers in order to get an “A” while a student with distinction one and credit three in another will push this student to score a C.
- For the first time, the examining body will be using technology to mark in some aspects.
KAMPALA.
Uganda National Examinations Board (Uneb) has recruited 16, 000 examiners to mark this year’s Primary Leaving Examinations and Uganda Certificate of Education, an exercise that started today.
Mr Dan Odongo, Uneb executive secretary told Daily Monitor yesterday that marking Senior Six national examinations which ended on December 1 will begin on January 2.
The board expects 5,700 examiners for PLE to complete their work in three weeks’ time while for Senior Four should be done before Christmas. While marking PLE started on Monday from eight centres, O’Level marking shall be conducted from 17 centres in schools around Kampala and Wakiso districts.
“We invited 16,000 examiners but usually 80per cent report. Senior examiners have already arrived and are now laying ground for their colleagues to start marking tomorrow (today),” Mr Odongo said in an interview.
For the first time, the examining body will be using technology to mark in some aspects. For instance, they developed an e-mark where students’ results will be recorded on computers unlike in the past where they would be put on optical mark reader forms that would then be scanned.
Mr Odongo further said the new grading system introduced last year for A’Level students will be used in the 2016 examination results. Uneb would in the past depend on the students’ performance to fix the grading.
But this time round, only students with distinction one must have scored 80per cent and above. Distinction two will be between 75 and 79, credit three (70 to 74) while credit four will range between 60 and 69. A failure will be below 35per cent.
However, schools are uncomfortable with the new grading system urging it is unfair for some students who wont be able to balance all the papers.
For example, director Namirembe Hillside High School, Dr Hillary Kiiza said that, the new system demands that a student offering a subject with two papers must have distinctions in all their papers in order to get an “A” while a student with distinction one and credit three in another will push this student to score a C.
“Uneb surprised everybody in last year’s examination by increasing the grading without informing the schools. Whereas it is important to maintain quality of students, that kind of grading could be streamlined because somebody who got average mark and you grade them differently is unfair,” Dr Kiiza said.
