Serere, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | A 16 year old girl is sitting her Primary Leaving Examinations- PLE at Serere HC1V after giving birth on Monday night.
The candidate whose identity has been withheld because she is a minor, is one of the candidates who registered for PLE in Serere district after conceiving during the COVID-19 lockdown.
She is among the 6,010 primary seven candidates writing exams in Serere district. After the PLE briefing on Friday, the candidate returned home to prepare for her examinations but developed labour pains over the weekend.
She was rushed to Serere HC1V and after medical examination, doctors rushed her to the theatre for C- section. According to medics, the minor couldn’t push the baby that weighed 4.3 kilograms at birth.
On Tuesday morning, after consultations with PLE scouts, Serere district education officials resolved to allow the new mother to sit the examination on her hospital bed and was assigned a UNEB supervisor.
Michael Eregu, the Serere District Education Officer together with Annet Icumar, the District Inspector of Schools, say that they couldn’t afford to let the young girl miss her examination after working hard for it.
Eregu explained that more than 15 girls conceived during the lockdown and gave birth while others are still expectant and due for delivery. He says that the girls have been given the opportunity to sit their final examinations.
Simon Richard Okurut, the father of the girl commended the effort by the education department to enable his daughter to sit her PLE.
“We lost hope after it emerged that our daughter was pregnant. When the government allowed candidate classes to resume, we were surprised when our daughter told us that she would like to register for exams. We didn’t expect her to give birth on exam eve but our daughter is brave,” he said.
Okurut revealed that his daughter’s defiler fled the village and his whereabouts are unknown to the family.
The Serere district UNEB official, Elizabeth Nabukeera Mutumba allowed the girl some extra 15 minutes to enable her complete her first paper on Tuesday morning.
Nabukeera also added that these days unlike in the past, no candidate is expected to miss an examination unless he or she has died.
“All those who are alive should be given an opportunity to struggle for their future,” she said.
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