UNEB releases 2026 exams timetable
PLE: 30th Oct – 4th Nov
UCE: 8th Oct – 3rd Nov
UACE: 7th Nov – 5th Dec
By Our reporter
KAMPALA – The Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) has officially released the 2026 national examination timetable for the Primary Leaving Examination (PLE), the Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE), and the Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE).
According to the UNEB Executive Director, Dan Odongo, the national examinations season will commence on Thursday, October 8th, 2026, starting with the mandatory briefing of UCE candidates. This marks the third consecutive year that the Board will be assessing candidates under the new Competency-Based Curriculum for the lower secondary cycle.
The Primary Leaving Examination (PLE) is scheduled to run from Thursday, October 30th to Wednesday, November 4th, 2026. This will be closely followed by the Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE) examinations, which will kick off on Friday, November 7th and conclude on Friday, December 5th, 2026.
Meanwhile, the Board has issued a strong warning regarding candidate behavior as final preparations begin.
“We wish to caution candidates against involvement in acts of indiscipline. Being a candidate does not put you over and above the school rules and regulations,” ED Odongo warned. “UNEB does not condone indiscipline and will not in any way support candidates who may be suspended or dismissed due to involvement in acts of indiscipline. We also ask parents to provide parental guidance to their candidates to avoid any mishaps.”
In line with legal requirements, UNEB has instructed all heads of centers, as well as district, city, and municipal inspectors of schools, to display the 2026 candidates’ registers for public viewing.
As provided for under Article 4, Sub-Section 2 of the UNEB Act CAP 259, examination centers are legally compelled to display candidate lists sixty days before the commencement of national examinations. For the 2026 cycle, the mandatory display period will continue until October 7th, 2026. Registers must be pinned in a conspicuous place on school notice boards and at respective district headquarters.
“The purpose of the display is to enable candidates to confirm their registration status as well as the correctness of their biodata,” Odongo noted. “Candidates are advised to look out for correctness and order of names, date of birth, gender, resolution of the candidates’ photograph, as well as the subjects and papers registered for in the case of UCE and UACE candidates. After confirming registration status, candidates MUST sign on a parallel register to confirm correctness of the registration data.”
The Board further guided that if any anomalies are discovered in the registration data, candidates must immediately inform school authorities. The school heads are then required to alert UNEB to make the necessary corrections before the October deadline.
Heads of centers have been heavily cautioned to cross-check the accuracy of all candidate biodata before appending their signatures and institutional stamps to the final parallel registers. In cases where a student has not been registered but possesses valid proof of payment made before the set deadlines, the Board must be notified immediately for emergency rectification.
Meanwhile in another development, the examination authority considering a hike in registration fees for candidates sitting national examinations.
Sources say that the proposal is among the issues the UNEB board and its committees have been discussing this week.
The examination body assesses whether the current fees are sufficient to meet the rising cost of administering national examinations.
Odongo who is also secretary to the board, confirmed the discussions in an interview with our reporter on Tuesday afternoon.
Odongo said the current fees have become increasingly inadequate as the cost of examination materials and other requirements continues to rise.
“There are several things that we want to effect, including increasing remuneration of people involved in management of the examinations, like scouts and invigilators, but we could not as we are limited on revenue,” he said.
Odongo said UNEB currently relies heavily on government funding to supplement the money collected from examination registration, but argued that a small and manageable adjustment in candidate fees would give the board more room to meet some of its operational needs.
“Currently, we rely a lot on releases from the government, yet if a small, manageable amount is added to what is being paid, it can improve on the matter,” he said.
Under the current fee structure, Primary Seven candidates pay thirty-four thousand shillings, while Senior Four candidates pay one hundred and thirty-four thousand shillings and Senior Six candidates pay one hundred and eighty-six thousand shillings.
For private candidates, the fees are paid by parents or guardians, while the government meets the registration costs for candidates in the Universal Primary Education (UPE) programme through releases to the board.
The proposed adjustment would therefore have different implications for families depending on the level of education and whether a learner is enrolled in a government-supported programme or sits as a private candidate.
UNEB last revised its registration rates in 2017, nearly a decade ago. The board adjusted fees for the different national examinations through a circular issued on April 4, 2017.
Odongo said the costs of running examinations have changed considerably since then, while the registration rates have remained largely unchanged.
“A lot has changed since 2017. The rates of materials used have increased amid other changes, but the rates have remained the same, affecting the board,” he said.
He said UNEB has held internal discussions on the issue for several years, but the board is now giving the proposal more serious consideration.
“We have had internal discussions on this matter for years, but this time round we are giving it serious consideration,” Odongo said.
He did not disclose the size of the increase under consideration or when the board could make a final decision.
The prospect of higher examination fees has already raised concern among some parents, who said an increase could add to the financial pressure on households and create another barrier for learners from low-income families.
Alex Kamya, a parent in Nabweru South, Wakiso District, said some parents already find the current secondary school examination fees high.
“Already some parents feel that the amount is a bit high, more so at secondary level, and increasing it might lock out some learners from the examination,” Kamya said.
Alice Ssembatya, another parent from Nansana East, also questioned whether government could increase its financial support to UNEB instead of passing additional costs to families. “Education is a public service. Government should shoulder the registration of all candidates, whether in private or public schools,” she said.
The debate comes against a broader challenge facing the financing of national examinations. UNEB requires funding for examination materials, transportation, security, storage, supervision, invigilation, marking and payment of personnel involved in the examination process.
Odongo said the board is also looking at ways of improving revenue collection and stopping losses before any increase in registration fees is considered.
Meanwhile, Odongo revealed that UNEB is moving to close revenue leakages after discovering cases where some headteachers in government schools allegedly register private candidates as government-sponsored candidates.
The practice denies UNEB fees which should have been paid by the parents or guardians of private candidates.
“We are going to investigate through our means, and once a head teacher is found doing this, first he will have to remit the examination fees of the candidates, but also be fined by paying a surcharge,” Odongo said.
He said UNEB would withhold results from examination centres involved in the practice until the outstanding fees and surcharges are paid.
Odongo said, the board could pursue criminal charges, arguing that deliberately misrepresenting candidates to avoid examination fees amounts to fraud under the UNEB Act and other relevant anti-corruption laws.
The proposed fee review and the crackdown on revenue leakages come as UNEB continues to administer the Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE), Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) and Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE) to hundreds of thousands of candidates e
