UBTEB stuck with over 10,000 certificates and transcripts

KAMPALA, UGANDA: The Uganda Business and Technical Examinations Board (UBTEB) says the examination body is stuck with over 10,000 certificates and transcripts.

According to UBTEB, these academic documents belong to 226 institutions most notably the Uganda Wildlife Training Institute, Ssese Farm Institute, Kampala Polytechnic Mengo and African College of Commerce among others.

Onesmus Oyesigye, the Executive Secretary of UBTEB says that they have received many students at the institution looking for their academic papers.

Oyesigye says it’s shocking that institutions that oversee the academic journeys of students are reluctant to pick the documents.

According to UBTEB, private institutions are the biggest culprits. Oyesigye says with no policy to address the situation, they are going to have to spend money as they name and shame the institutions.

“We are going to have to publish the names of these institutions but this means we shall also be spending money to do this,” he said.

Innocent Abaasa, a Director at Ssese Farm Institute, says that they had never picked the documents due to unavoidable circumstances. When asked how many of their students might be affected, he declined to comment.

“We have been handling many things and have not been able to go and pick those documents but we hope that we shall be able to pick them next week. Our students should wait until next week,” Abaasa said.

Without the academic documents, diploma or certificate, it remains a challenge for the graduates to apply for jobs.

“The students come here and they are stuck. Institutions need to be more responsible. They should not be like taxi men who are charming when they are trying to get you to enter their car but when you want to get out, they are not friendly. They do not care. If someone has spent two years with you, why would you treat them as strangers,” he said.