KITGUM, UGANDA: Students, teachers and UNEB scouts at Kitgum Comprehensive College in Northern Uganda were Monday left in shock after one of the candidates mysteriously lost her eyesight during the first paper of the day.
Mercy Atenyo is said to have gone blind few moments after turning up at the examination hall on Monday morning and was unable to sit for her Mathematics paper prompting mixed reactions from family and religious leaders in the community.
Pictures shared on social media showed Atenyo with her pupils stuck upward and many said she could have been bewitched.
It should be noted Senior Four candidates across the country kicked off their Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) examinations on Monday, with Mathematics Paper One in the morning and Paper Two in the evening.
When approached for a comment on the incident, Ms Jenifer Kalule, the spokesperson of UNEB spokesperson confirmed the board had received reports of the incident of the candidate who reportedly went blind one and a half hours after she started her first paper.
“The school administrators reported that the candidate entered the examination room when she was okay. After one and a half hours, she started crying, causing commotion in the examination room,” Ms Kalule said.
She explained that when the invigilators approached the student in question, she claimed that she had started experiencing loss of sight and she could no longer see what she was writing.
“She was rushed to the hospital and she recovered her sight and demanded that she goes back to sit for Mathematics Paper Two in the afternoon,” Ms Kalule said, adding that, unfortunately, upon entering the examination hall to sit for the afternoon paper, the student lost her sight again after only writing her name on the paper.
However, after some school leaders prayed for her, the student reportedly regained her sight and was able to sit for the exams the following day (Tuesday).
The school head teacher, Mr Charles Odongo notified Uneb officials that the candidate had regained her sight and was able to do her Chemistry Practicals.
She is today (Wednesday) expected to do her Physics Practicals today.
As a remedy, Uneb proposed to get her an aide, who would read her the questions and write for her as she dictates in case she loses her sight again.
Ms Kalule said since the student wrote her name on both the papers, Uneb assumes she sat for the exams and therefore, she will get F9 in Mathematics.
Medics Speak Out
Dr Denis Kamara, an eye specialist at St. Joseph’s Hospital, told our reporter that there are many causes of sudden blindness, such as infection in the head, hunger, and lack of oxygen in the brain or a head injury.
Dr Kamara added that sudden blindness could also be caused by a conversion disorder, a functional neurologic disorder, which comes as a physical response to a stressful or psychological trauma, which makes one experience temporary physical signs such as blindness or paralysis.
Dr Kamara said sudden blindness could also be hysterical blindness, where one suffers sudden or gradual blindness in one or both eyes. Hysterical blindness is said to last between a few hours to several years and may be irregular.
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