The disappearance of 34 Primary Leaving Examination Integrated Science scripts from Bamure Primary School in Koboko District is not a clerical mishap. It is a serious institutional failure that exposes deep negligence at the Uganda National Examinations Board and places the responsibility squarely on the desk of UNEB Secretary, Dan Odongo.
National examinations are among the most sensitive public processes in the country. They determine the academic future of children and shape public confidence in the education system. For 34 candidates to have their scripts go missing within a supposedly secure system is a damning indictment of leadership and oversight at UNEB.
Although the Board has later announced that the scripts have been recovered, the explanation only deepens concerns about incompetence. In a press statement issued on February 3 2026, UNEB said the anomaly was discovered during internal quality control checks prior to the release of results.
“The Uganda National Examinations Board would like to assure the public that the missing PLE scripts of Integrated Science for learners of Bamure Primary School Koboko District have been recovered and examiners invited for marking and subsequent grading of the candidates,” said UNEB Principal Public Relations Officer Jennifer Kalule Musamba.
She explained that the affected learners were temporarily awarded X as investigations were conducted. “It is this investigation that yielded the discovery of the sealed script envelope which was found intact in the lockable box for UNEB materials in the office of the Headmaster,” she said.
“For avoidance of doubt the envelope was first handed over to Koboko Central Police Station who confirmed that it had not been tampered with. The scripts have now been passed on to UNEB for marking,” Kalule Musamba added.
This account raises a more troubling question than the one UNEB seeks to settle. How do national examination scripts remain unaccounted for until the final stages of result processing? How does an entire Board chaired by experienced professionals fail to notice that scripts for 34 candidates are sitting in a head teacher’s office while results are being released nationwide?
As Secretary and chief executive officer of UNEB, Dan Odongo is directly responsible for the custody, tracking, and integrity of examination materials. The failure to account for scripts until the eleventh hour points to systemic weakness under his leadership. It also demonstrates a lack of effective supervision, internal checks, and operational discipline.
This is not an isolated administrative oversight. It comes against the backdrop of unease over the 2025 PLE results. Only one school Seeta Junior School Mukono owned by State Minister for Higher Education John Chrysostom Muyingo emerged as the only school in the country to produce the most aggregate fours. Fifty six pupils out of 140 candidates scored first grade.
That outcome has disturbed many in the education sector. How does a single school tower above long-established institutions such as Kampala Parents School, Greenhill Academy Buwaate, Kampala Quality Primary School, Hillside Naalya, and Kabojja International? Were marking standards applied uniformly across all centres? Were scripts from different regions subjected to the same level of scrutiny and fairness?
Beyond elite schools lies a far more disturbing statistic. More than 77,000 pupils failed PLE. These are children largely from ordinary families and rural schools whose only chance at social mobility rests on the integrity of national examinations. When scripts can go missing in Koboko, the question is unavoidable. What assurance exists that scripts from remote village schools were properly handled, marked, and graded?
The crisis at UNEB is therefore not about public relations. It is about leadership. Dan Odongo has presided over a system that allowed scripts to disappear and only be discovered after results were nearly finalised. Such a lapse would be unacceptable in any serious examination body anywhere in the world.
Education Minister Janet Kataha Museveni now faces a moment of decision. Protecting the credibility of national examinations must take precedence over institutional comfort. The public needs assurance that negligence at the top carries consequences.
Restoring confidence in UNEB requires more than statements and explanations. It requires accountability. The continued stay of Dan Odongo as Secretary sends the wrong signal to parents, learners and the nation. For the integrity of Uganda’s education system,, the Minister should act decisively and relieve him of office.
