The Ministry of Education and Sports (MoE & S) has banned schools from buying exams from Commercial Examination Bureaus noting that act is not only unprofessional but also detrimental to the children’s future.
In a directive to the Chief Administrative Officers, Town Clerks and Director KCCA, the ministry revealed that examination bureaus are not licensed to operate in schools and do not have any mandate from the ministry to assess its learners.
According to Permanent Secretary in Ministry of Education and Sports, Alex Kakooza, many schools have taken the advantage of examination bureaus to exploit parents by charging them fees for daily tests, daily homework, mid-term tests, beginning of term tests, weekly tests, holiday packages and end of term tests.
“This practice gives teachers no freedom to assess the learner’s capacity, following a syllabus. This act is not only unprofessional but also detrimental to the children’s future,” said Mr. Kakooza reads
He called on teachers to revert to, professional way of following the curriculum, writing schemes of work, and derive lesson plans from there for conducting effective lessons, that will help learners acquire knowledge and skills for personal and national development.
“District and municipal education officers, inspectors of schools, coordinating centre tutors and others have been instructed to ensure that no private examination bureaus operate in schools,” reads in part of the statement.
Despite running the private examination bureaus, Kakooza called on the head teachers and teachers to immediately stop the practice.