By Jamillah Kemigisa
A fresh wave of concern swept through the ongoing 2025 Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE) examinations on Tuesday after candidates at one centre were mistakenly given an Economics Paper 2 exam booklet labelled with the wrong year. The paper, meant for the 2025 examinations, was instead printed 2024, triggering confusion among candidates and prompting an emergency probe by the Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB).
The mix-up was discovered shortly after the paper was distributed during the morning session. Alarmed candidates immediately notified invigilators, who quickly alerted UNEB headquarters.
In an urgent communication aimed at calming the situation, UNEB instructed supervisors to reassure students that the exam was authentic despite the misprint.
“Please take note that the year should read 2025 and not 2024 as indicated. Candidates should proceed with the examination,” read UNEB’s directive to field officials.
Preliminary findings suggest the error stemmed from a packaging and distribution mishap, where outdated covers or materials from the previous year were accidentally mixed with the new 2025 batch. While the cover bore the wrong year, the questions inside were confirmed to be the correct 2025 examination content.
UNEB spokesperson Jennifer Kalule acknowledged the error and confirmed that a technical team had been dispatched to the affected school to verify the source of the misprint and reinforce examination integrity.
“You can check last year’s paper — it is totally different from this one. The year was an error,” Kalule said.
“We understand the concern because the public holds UNEB to a high standard. We are reviewing our internal processes to ensure this does not happen again.”
Kalule assured learners and parents that the mistake would not affect marking, emphasizing that candidates would not be disadvantaged in any way since the exam content is valid and unchanged.
Given Uganda’s heightened sensitivity around national examinations — from fears of leaks to strict confidentiality protocols — the incident quickly drew public attention. UNEB, however, insists there was no malpractice or breach, describing the matter purely as a logistical oversight.
The Board further confirmed that all scripts from the affected centre will be marked normally under national guidelines.
More than 110,000 candidates across Uganda are currently sitting the 2025 UACE examinations. With the national assessment period in full swing, this latest mix-up is likely to intensify calls for UNEB to tighten its quality-control procedures, particularly in packaging, storage, and distribution.
UNEB has in recent years faced sporadic criticism over isolated leaks, circulation of fake exam papers, and occasional operational errors. Tuesday’s incident will likely renew scrutiny over the Board’s examination management systems as the country continues to demand high standards of reliability and trust.
