The Uganda National Examinations Board (Uneb) has announced guidelines for the registration of candidates for the 2026 national examinations, including the Primary Leaving Examination (PLE), Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE), and Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE).
Uneb Executive Director Dan Odongo said the exercise is already ongoing across the country. “The registration of the 2026 candidates is underway for the Primary Leaving Examination (PLE), the Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) and the Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE),” Odongo said.
Odongo also announced that the period for normal registration has been extended to allow newly accredited centres to complete the process.
“Normal registration has been extended to 30th June, 2026, to accommodate the new centres that have just been accredited,” he said.
He warned schools and parents against delaying registration, noting that late registration will attract penalties and that no candidate will be registered after the final deadline.
“Late registration, attracting a surcharge of 100 % for PLE and 50% for UCE and UACE candidates, will start on July 1st, 2026, and close on July 31st, 2026. There will be no more registration of candidates after July 31st, 2026,” Odongo stated.
Uneb further confirmed that government-sponsored learners under national education programs will continue to have their examination registration fees paid by the state.
“The government will continue to pay the registration fees for all candidates sponsored under any of the three programs: Universal Primary Education (UPE), Universal Secondary Education (USE), and the Universal Post O-Level Education and Training Program (UPOLET),” he said.
For privately sponsored learners, UNEB said the examination registration fees remain unchanged.
“For the privately sponsored candidates, the registration have been maintained as follows: PLE – 34,000/=, UCE – 164,000/=, and UACE – 186,000/=,” Odongo explained.
The examinations body also urged schools and parents to ensure that candidates’ names are correctly captured during registration.
“Before registering candidates, the head teacher and parents should agree on the correct spellings and order of names that candidates should use. The names of the candidates should be got from the birth certificate, or NIRA forms submitted by the parents,” he said.
UNEb noted that this year’s UCE candidates are part of the third group to sit examinations under the Competency-Based Curriculum.
“This year’s candidates are the 3rd cohort of learners to register under the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC). CBC requires candidates to register for a minimum of eight (8) and a maximum of nine (9) subjects,” Odongo said.
The board also clarified eligibility requirements for candidates seeking to register for the 2026 UCE examinations.
“Only candidates who sat PLE in 2022 or earlier shall be allowed to register for UCE 2026. They should have passed PLE with the following grades 1,2,3, or 4), or its equivalent, and should have attended four years of Lower Secondary Education,” he stated.
Uneb emphasized that submission of Continuous Assessment scores is mandatory for all UCE candidates.
“Only candidates who have submitted Continuous Assessment (CA) scores to UNEB for all the subjects and the project scores for S.3 qualify for 2026 UCE registration. This also applies to adult private candidates and candidates with equated results,” Odongo added.
The examinations body also issued guidance for candidates with foreign academic qualifications.
“All candidates with foreign results MUST have their marks equated by UNEB before registration. After receiving the equated results, the candidates will be given a unique code to enable them register electronically,” he said.
You can see Guidelines for S6 Repeaters Under New Curriculum in 2026 HERE
The lists of top performing schools in PLE, UCE, and UACE are Here, There and Over There.
