By Conan Businge, Pascal Kwesiga and Sylvia Nankya
SEVERAL schools all over the country have raised their admission points to Senior Five, ahead of the new term which will open on February 21. Top five schools, compared to only three last year, have set their entry points between 10 and 12 aggregate.
In the O’level certificate examinations, the best candidate scores aggregate 8 in eight subjects. This means that he must get a distinction one in each subject.
A candidate needs a credit six in the three subjects which form a subject combination for a course in Senior Five. But top schools demand a distinction in every subject in a combination.
Among the top schools, which hiked their entry points were Namugongo, Namilyango, Kitende, Ndejje, Kibuli, and Turkish Light College.
Budo, Kitende, Namilyango Namagunga, Kisubi, and Namagunga, are the schools with the highest entry points this year.
However, a handful of schools have maintained and few others have lowered their cut-off points.
For instance, Namagunga has maintained the same entry mark of 11 aggregate.
Schools like Budo, Gayaza and Nabisunsa have also maintained their last year’s cut-off points.
Apart from traditional government-aided schools, a number of privately-owned schools raised their entry points in the 221 randomly selected schools all over the country.
The selection exercise, which was chaired by assistant commissioner Francis Agula, and was officially opened by the director of basic and secondary education, Yusuf Nsubuga, will close today at Mandela National Stadium-Namboole.
The rise in entry points was attributed to the increase in the number of Senior Four candidates who were competing for slots in S.5. Cut-off points are determined by the number of candidates who apply to join a given school in relation to the vacancies available.
If the number of applicants is high, the school sets high cut-off points.
The number of S.5 applicants is high because of the pioneer Universal Secondary Education candidates.
There was a significant increase in the number of candidates from 218,056 to 264,928, although there was a slight decline in the number of students who passed in Division One.
Only 7.2% of the 258,196 passed in Division One compared to 7.6% of 212,497 students in 2009.
But only 82,720 students are likely to be admitted in government-aided secondary schools.
A statement by the education ministry’s permanent secretary, Francis-Xavier Lubanga, says Senior One and Five students will begin classes on February 21.
He clarified that students “who are not of the voting age or those who did not register at home, must remain at school.” The New Vision predicted that the cut-off mark would be stiffer than last year’s, because of the sharp increase in the number of bright students competing for slots in top schools. Normally, candidates prefer to rejoin their former schools for A’level, making it harder for new-comers.
Apart from S.5 students, the selection process also catered for technical institutes and primary teachers colleges.
Friday, February 11, 2011
EU applauds electoral process
By Sylvia Nankya
THE European Union election observation mission for the forthcoming general elections in Uganda has commended the electoral process for being peaceful and calm.
The mission’s chief observer, Edward Scicluna, yesterday told journalists in Kampala that compared to previous elections and recent developments in countries across Africa, Uganda had to be lauded for running a process that was free of intimidation and violence.
“We have found that the campaign has been relatively peaceful and calm so far. It is our hope that this remains the case for the rest of the campaign period, on Election Day, and most importantly, after the results are announced,” Scicluna said.
The mission also recommended that the Electoral Commission follows international practices by posting on its website the election results, broken down according to each polling station.
“This will lead to greater transparency of the election process and more voter confidence and trust in the eventual outcome,” he added.
Scicluna said since his arrival in Uganda three days ago, he had held discussions with a number of Electoral Commission officials, representatives of political parties and civil society organisations.
Some of the key concerns raised include the long standing argument of allowing persons without voter cards to vote as long as they registered, freedom of expression, unfair media coverage and the right to announce poll results.
He shielded the Electoral Commission on grounds that the law in Uganda did not require voters to have the cards to vote.
“We assess the progress against the domestic laws of a country. Our concern is whether this affects the result. However, its important that all registered voters are identified to avoid fraud or double voting,” he observed.
He advised that the process should be handled by all stakeholders to ensure transparency and called for freedom of expression among all candidates and political parties before, during and after elections.
Scicluna said although each political party is free to make projections, it must be clear that there can only be one official result.
THE European Union election observation mission for the forthcoming general elections in Uganda has commended the electoral process for being peaceful and calm.
The mission’s chief observer, Edward Scicluna, yesterday told journalists in Kampala that compared to previous elections and recent developments in countries across Africa, Uganda had to be lauded for running a process that was free of intimidation and violence.
“We have found that the campaign has been relatively peaceful and calm so far. It is our hope that this remains the case for the rest of the campaign period, on Election Day, and most importantly, after the results are announced,” Scicluna said.
The mission also recommended that the Electoral Commission follows international practices by posting on its website the election results, broken down according to each polling station.
“This will lead to greater transparency of the election process and more voter confidence and trust in the eventual outcome,” he added.
Scicluna said since his arrival in Uganda three days ago, he had held discussions with a number of Electoral Commission officials, representatives of political parties and civil society organisations.
Some of the key concerns raised include the long standing argument of allowing persons without voter cards to vote as long as they registered, freedom of expression, unfair media coverage and the right to announce poll results.
He shielded the Electoral Commission on grounds that the law in Uganda did not require voters to have the cards to vote.
“We assess the progress against the domestic laws of a country. Our concern is whether this affects the result. However, its important that all registered voters are identified to avoid fraud or double voting,” he observed.
He advised that the process should be handled by all stakeholders to ensure transparency and called for freedom of expression among all candidates and political parties before, during and after elections.
Scicluna said although each political party is free to make projections, it must be clear that there can only be one official result.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Civil society to take legal action against Parliament of Uganda commission
By Sylvia Nankya
A Coalition of civil-society organisations have opted for legal action against the parliamentary commission in attempts to recover sh6b given to members of Parliament last month.
The organisations include Uganda National NGO Forum, Uganda Debt Network [UDN], Uganda Governance monitoring platform [UGMP], Forum for Women in Democracy [FOWODE], Action Aid Uganda and Anti corruption coalition of Uganda [ACCU].
Initially, they had issued an ultimatum of February 4 to the MPs to return the money as part of its “Respect your Honor and Return our money” campaign.
By yesterday only 12 MPs, mainly from the opposition have returned the money. They Include; Beatrice Atim Anywar, Hussein Kyanjo, Latif Sebaggala, Nabbilah Naggayi, Sebuliba Mutumba and Suzan Nampijja among others.
“We shall file a petition in the constitutional court requesting the court to declare that the money was issued illegally because it was never approved by Parliament as required,” Martha Nanjobe, UDN’s director of programmes said.
She said they would also appeal to the court to direct the parliamentary commission to recover the money.
“The intention is to have each Member of Parliament take the responsibility to refund the 20 million shillings,” Nanjobe added.
A Coalition of civil-society organisations have opted for legal action against the parliamentary commission in attempts to recover sh6b given to members of Parliament last month.
The organisations include Uganda National NGO Forum, Uganda Debt Network [UDN], Uganda Governance monitoring platform [UGMP], Forum for Women in Democracy [FOWODE], Action Aid Uganda and Anti corruption coalition of Uganda [ACCU].
Initially, they had issued an ultimatum of February 4 to the MPs to return the money as part of its “Respect your Honor and Return our money” campaign.
By yesterday only 12 MPs, mainly from the opposition have returned the money. They Include; Beatrice Atim Anywar, Hussein Kyanjo, Latif Sebaggala, Nabbilah Naggayi, Sebuliba Mutumba and Suzan Nampijja among others.
“We shall file a petition in the constitutional court requesting the court to declare that the money was issued illegally because it was never approved by Parliament as required,” Martha Nanjobe, UDN’s director of programmes said.
She said they would also appeal to the court to direct the parliamentary commission to recover the money.
“The intention is to have each Member of Parliament take the responsibility to refund the 20 million shillings,” Nanjobe added.
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