KAMPALA. A total of 99,751 nursing candidates have started their second national assessment series.
The assessment, which kicked off on Monday will run until December 12 in 215 centres, with 147 centres for Nursing Midwifery and 68 for Allied Health Programmes.
Addressing a press conference at Uganda Health Professions Assessment Board (UHPAB) offices in Kyambogo, the board’s Executive Secretary, Ms Helen Mukakarisa Kataratambi, warned candidates against engaging in exam malpractices ,emphasing that malpractice undermines the credibility of Uganda’s education and health sectors.
“We don’t want malpractice as professionals. All we want is to produce nurses, midwives, or allied health professionals who are very ethical. If we don’t do it well, it will eventually come back to us because we don’t know in whose arms we are going to land when we fall sick,” she said.
Ms Mukakarisa noted that those involved in malpractice put the lives of Ugandans at risk, as they may not acquire the necessary competencies to save lives. She added that the board has put in place strict measures to prevent malpractice, including the deployment of various stakeholders to participate in the assessment exercise.
The 2025 Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) Act prescribes penalties for assessment malpractice, including fines up to Shs 100 million, imprisonment for up to 10 years, or both. Ms Mukakarisa warned that severe penalties await those who engage in any form of malpractice.
UHPAB’s Chairperson, Dr. Alfred Driwale, also cautioned stakeholders against malpractice, saying, “As we start the threshold of the December 2025 assessment, let us uphold the trust placed in us by the government. We must guard the credibility of UHPAB and work as a team with one purpose and one national mission to build an assessment system, worthy of our country’s education and health sectors.”
According to Ms. Juliet Nassiwa Twesigye, UHPAB’s Deputy Executive Secretary, the board has deployed various stakeholders to participate in the assessment exercise, including coordinators, supervisors, monitors, and security personnel.
The assessment is being carried out in various centres across the country, with 30,184 candidates for Allied Health and 69,567 candidates for Nursing and Midwifery Programmes. The board is committed to ensuring that the assessment process is fair, transparent, and credible.
“We have already deployed various stakeholders to participate in this assessment exercise. The coordinators are part of them, but we have three oversight supervisors, one overall coordinator, four regional supervisors, 76 monitors, 218 centre coordinators, 215 centre supervisors, 768 invigilators, and 2,913 assessors for practical assessment,” Ms Twesigye said.