Two female candidates at Koch Goma Senior Secondary School in Koch Goma Town Council, Nwoya District have missed the Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) examinations after they were reportedly married off.
The girls were part of 90 other candidates registered at the school for this year’s UCE examination.
George Uribru, the School Head Teacher told Uganda Radio Network in an interview on Monday that the girls failed to show up at the school when the exams commenced.
He says the girls had all registered for the examination but one disappeared towards the end of the first term while another left school in the Second term after failing to also sit for the Mock examination.
Uribru says their investigation reveals the girls have all been married off to men within the district.
He expressed disappointment in their decisions arguing that they were promising and the school had high hopes they would produce good grades.
Fadhil Abola, the LCV Councilor for Koch Goma Town council however cautioned parents to keep their daughters in school until they finish their studies without them getting married off under their watch.
At Gulu College School, a private secondary school in Gulu City, seven candidates who had registered for UCE failed to show up this morning for the examination.
According to Florence Akello, the school Head Teacher, the students are part of 181 who had initially registered to sit for UCE at the school. She says only 171 candidates showed up for the papers.
Akello says she is yet to confirm the sex of the students who have missed the examination and their reasons.
“I am not yet sure whether all of them are male or female, we shall check their school index numbers and match it with the details we have,” She told Uganda Radio Network in an interview.
Nwoya District in particular registered high numbers of teenage pregnancies in the 2021/22 Financial year, with stakeholders citing the prolonged effects of the covid-19 lockdown as its major cause.
Statistics from the district indicate a total of 2,143 teenage pregnancy cases were registered last year out of which 475 cases were from Koch Goma Sub-county alone.