It stands for Ugandan National Exam Boards and is the most feared and revered measure of success for young people in Uganda. Unlike our SATs, students who score poorly have no future chances in this country. And sadly, the exams themselves are often poor indicators of intelligence or study skills, reflecting more of a dependence on rote memorization. Students sit for ten papers in their various subjects of study.
Exams are closely guarded secrets. Every aspect of the testing process is fraught with red tape and confidentiality. The UNEB exam room at our school was set up on Friday for our Monday morning beginning exams. Each desk must seat a single person and must be separated by a designated number of centimeters from it’s surrounding desks. Students across the country all sit for their exams on the exact same date at the exact same time thus preventing some common forms of cheating. Students must apply for UNEB six months before the actual test including photo ids and the slightest discrepancy in their paperwork will disqualify them. Got malaria and unable to sit for your exam? Wait till next year, paying another year of school fees and another series of UNEB dues . . . . . Sorry.
Five days before the exams begin we got our phone call for receipt of the “Confidentials” – the secret information that explains what materials are needed for the lab practical exams, to allow each school time to prepare. They are hand delivered in sealed envelopes by the area supervisor for UNEB (this year, one of our former teachers, Andrew) and revealed to two to three people who will prepare the labs. Then an emergency request goes out to a lab supplier who will rush the supplies to us by Monday.

Each day of UNEB exams, which go on for about six weeks including both Ordinary level and Advanced Level students, David must report to the Nyahuka police station and enter a locked room for which only the area supervisor holds the key. There he will be handed sealed envelopes with the days exams. The envelope for each exam may not be opened until the moment the exam is to begin. This process appears more ludicrous when you take note of the Nyahuka Police Station itself. A small building with a decrepit “jail” – really a holding cell made of floor to ceiling wooden boards, smelling strongly of human waste and with hunted eyes peering out from behind. Police in our part of the country (like most parts) are not known for their honesty or devotion to civil duty. Perhaps that explains why only the area supervisor holds the key.

For the last week Ordinary level (senior 4, senior high school equivalent) students have been in their final reading week. Classes have ended and they are “reading and revising” a process of going through four years of notebooks holding the collected wisdom from teacher lectures, chalkboard dictations and occasional access to textbooks. They seek to organize themselves and prepare for the papers that will tell their future. Their best eight papers will form their score; their hope is to score Division 1 or 2 . . . Even Division 3 has some possibilities.

Meanwhile David looks forward to a stress filled month of supervising details; from lab equipment to testing room set ups to photo id checks. A mistake in any of these areas carries federal fines and jail times – a risk we are not interested in taking. Headmasters from all over the country are regularly jailed for infractions that we might not even have been aware of – which sure does keep us on our toes. So pray us through – our first UNEBs – nothing to be taken lightly.