Education Ministry Declares Senior One Online Vacancy Applications Illegal

Dr Joyce Kaducu Moriku, first lady Janet Museveni’s junior education minister in charge of primary education, has declared all Senior One (S1) online vacancy applications illegal.

On July 16, Uganda National Examinations Board (Uneb) and education ministry officials released the 2020 Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE) results at an event held at State House Entebbe.

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During the release, Minister Ms Museveni said a date for the selection exercise for senior one would be announced.

But given that Uganda is currently under a lockdown occassioned by the Covid19 pandemic, some school administrators urged parents and students to apply for slots online.

One of such schools was Gayaza High which announced that “compassionate applications for S1 will be done online as a measure to prevent and fight further spread of the Covid19 virus.”

But on July 20, Minister Moriku was quoted as saying that that it was illegal for schools to conduct online applications.

“We have not pronounced ourselves on online registration, online selection, and online applications,” she said.

“I want to make this very clear to those schools that are calling on parents to use online [means] to fill forms while getting money from the parents that this is illegal.”

The 2020 batch of senior one students is yet to be promoted after plans for the resumption of classes after a year of lost time due to Covid19 disruptions was interrupted by another lockdown.

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