The confusion surrounding the rejected joint mock examination has taken a new twist with Uganda Muslim Teachers Association disowning the papers.
On Monday, senior 4 and senior 6 students of Nyendo Mixed Secondary school in Masaka rejected mock examination papers citing forgery. It all started when the students paid UGX 35,000 to sit joint examinations set by Uganda Muslim teachers Association.
UMTA is a professional association for all Muslim teachers across the country. The association sets joint mock examinations for all partner schools.
The students were shocked on Monday, when they went to write the UMTA mock examinations but were given question papers from Sseke and Lyantonde Secondary Schools.
As a result, the students rejected the examination papers and handed them back to the school administration. They stormed out of the examination rooms and camped at the headmistress’s office demanding for UGX 35, 000 each they paid for the mock examinations.
Madinah Namayanja, the school headmistress claimed she had actually got the mock exams from Uganda Muslim Teachers Association. She claimed to the students and media, by show of receipts, that Uganda Muslim Teachers Association had delivered fewer examination papers and as a result, she was forced to photocopy the papers from Sseke Secondary School and Lyantonde Secondary School.
But Issa Matovu, the Executive Secretary Uganda Muslim Teachers Association which Namayanja claimed to have got the mock exams from has spoken out disowning the Agriculture, Physics, Fine Art, and Entrepreneurship papers.
Matovu has told URN on phone from Kampala that although they have a partnership with Nyendo Mixed Secondary school, his association never delivered such papers.
Matovu explained that all joint examinations delivered to partnering school must be on their headed paper with under the title Uganda Muslim Teachers Association. Matovu tasks the school administration to identify where it got those papers instead of identifying the association with them.
The pronouncement by UMTA over these mock exams has put Nyendo Mixed secondary school in a fix with students accusing their teachers of forgery.
A senior six student of Nyendo Mixed School says the pronouncement by UMTA shows the school administration embezzled their funds. He says he wants the school to refund his money immediately because he struggled to raise the UGX 35,000.
But Madinah Namayanja, the school headmistress, has apologized to the students. She has told URN that the school management committee will convene a meeting to discuss on how to refund the students money.
Cases of school owners embezzling students’ examination funds are on the rise. Late last year, over 150 candidates of Masaka High School missed UNEB exams after the school directors disappeared with their funds. The school has since been closed.
