The Uganda National Examinations Board, UNEB, has extended the registration deadline for new examination centres and candidates for the 2026 national examinations.

While addressing journalists today, the UNEB Executive Director, Dan Odongo, revealed that the board is continuing with the implementation of the new lower secondary curriculum and warned schools against errors in candidate registration and examination malpractice.

Since its establishment in 1983, the Uganda National Examinations Board has been responsible for conducting and managing national examinations in Uganda, including the Primary Leaving Examination, Uganda Certificate of Education and Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education.

Over the years, UNEB has continued to introduce reforms aimed at improving the credibility, efficiency and quality of Uganda’s assessment system. In recent years, the board has been overseeing the implementation of the new lower secondary curriculum, which emphasises competence-based learning, continuous assessment and practical projects for learners.

As schools continue adapting to these reforms, UNEB today addressed the media on the progress of the 2026 registration exercise for candidates and examination centres across the country.

While addressing the media today, the Executive Director of Uganda National Examinations Board, Dan Odongo, thanked the President of the Republic of Uganda, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, for reappointing the Minister of Education and Sports, Janet Kataaha Museveni, together with the two state ministers in the education sector

Odongo said the continuity in leadership comes at a critical time when the ministry is implementing the new curriculum at different levels of education, noting that this will help to ease and strengthen the implementation process.

Odongo also spoke about the recently concluded exercise of registering new schools seeking recognition as UNEB examination centres across the country.

He announced that UNEB has extended the registration deadline from 31st May to 30th June 2026 to give newly registered examination centres enough time to register their candidates.

On examination registration fees, Odongo said the government will continue paying registration fees for candidates in government-aided schools. These include candidates in Primary Leaving Examination schools under Universal Primary Education, Uganda Certificate of Education schools under Universal Secondary Education and Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education schools under the Universal Post O-Level Education and Training programme.

He, however, noted that registration fees for private school candidates will remain unchanged at 34 thousand shillings for PLE candidates, 164 thousand shillings for UCE candidates and 186 thousand shillings for UACE candidates.

Odongo further appealed to parents and schools to carefully verify candidates’ particulars before registration, especially the arrangement and spelling of names as they will appear on official UNEB documents, including pass slips and certificates.

For UCE candidates, Odongo revealed that UNEB is registering the third cohort under the new curriculum. He emphasized that continuous assessment and project scores beginning from Senior Three will now be mandatory requirements for registration.

He warned that any candidate without these assessment scores will neither be registered nor allowed to sit for the examinations.

Odongo urged schools registering candidates for UNEB examinations to display lists of candidates on school notice boards at least sixty days before examinations begin. He explained that this will give learners enough time to confirm whether their registration details are correct.

Odongo also called upon parents to take responsibility by visiting schools where their children are registered to confirm that they have indeed been registered correctly.

He advised both parents and candidates, especially Senior Four and Senior Six candidates, to personally verify their names, photographs and subject combinations before signing against their details in school records.

He further warned schools to thoroughly inspect materials used by candidates during examinations, especially pens with erasable ink.

According to Odongo, such ink can disappear with time, affecting the marking process and causing candidates to lose marks. He added that UNEB will treat the use of erasable ink pens as a form of examination malpractice.