OVER 18,000 WEST NILE STUDENTS SET FOR REGIONAL MOCK EXAMINATIONS

By Morish Dramadri

Arua city

More than 18,000 candidates across the West Nile sub-region are set to sit this year’s regional mock examinations, expected to begin with candidates’ briefing on Friday, as schools intensify preparations for the 2026 Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) and Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE) examinations.

The regional mock examinations, organized by the West Nile Secondary Schools Examination Council (WENSSEC) through its academic department, brings together both Ordinary and Advanced Level candidates from secondary schools across the region with a design to assess learners’ preparedness, identify knowledge gaps, and expose candidates to examination conditions similar to those of the national assessments.

According to John Carason, Chairperson of the Arua City Academic Committee and Regional General Secretary for WENSSEC’s Academic Department, all logistical arrangements have been finalized, with examination papers already distributed to participating districts.

“We have registered over 18,000 candidates from West Nile alone. We have already secured the question papers, and the printing company has supplied them to the districts. This coming Saturday we expect practical examinations, including languages. We have both the new lower secondary curriculum and the aligned Advanced Level curriculum, so we want schools to fully align themselves with these systems,” Carason said.

At Manibe Public Secondary School in Arua city, Vincent Anguyo the Head Teacher said the school has strengthened revision programs through group discussions, practical sessions, and regular seminars to improve candidates’ confidence and performance.

“Our weekends are dedicated to practical lessons. We organized Senior Four candidates into discussion groups after class and also conducted seminars to prepare them for the regional mock examinations. I believe they are ready,” Anguyo said.

Similarly, Grace A’dia, the Head Teacher of Arivu Secondary School in Arua District, said the school has completed all the necessary preparations and is only awaiting the delivery of examination materials.

“We have distributed timetables to the learners, collected the advance instructions, made requisitions for practical materials, and even recalled our Senior Four candidates a week earlier for remedial lessons. I believe we are fully prepared,” she said.

The West Nile regional mock examinations have become an annual academic benchmark for secondary schools across the sub-region in Coordination with WENSSEC, to complement school-based continuous assessments by providing a standardized measure of learners’ readiness before the Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) administers the final UCE and UACE examinations.