Soroti student delivers baby boy during UNEB exams

A Senior Four student at Erimu College in Soroti has given birth to a baby boy during the ongoing Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) examinations but returned to complete two papers the following day.

The candidate delivered at Soroti Regional Referral Hospital after sitting her Information and Communication Technology (ICT) paper last week.

Despite having just given birth, she returned to her examination centre the following day and sat Christian Religious Education (CRE) and Agriculture.

Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) spokesperson Jennifer Kalule-Musamba confirmed the incident on Monday, October 26, 2026.

"She delivered from Soroti Regional Referral Hospital and the following day she had two papers, that is CRE and Agriculture and she was able to come back and sit both papers while the baby was being taken care of at the Hospital," she added.

Kalule-Musamba says the student balanced her examinations with breastfeeding her newborn, travelling between the examination centre and the hospital.

"She would go back in between to breastfeed her baby and come back," she said.

Kalule-Musamba said UNEB remains committed to ensuring that all registered candidates complete their examinations, regardless of pregnancy or motherhood.

"As a board, we do not condone teenage pregnancy. However, where a candidate has been duly registered, we provide them a conducive environment to write the papers regardless of their status," she said.

A total of 503,214 candidates registered for the examinations across Uganda, comprising 264,788 females and 238,426 males.

The examinations mark the third group of candidates assessed under Uganda's competency-based lower secondary curriculum.

UNEB maintains that pregnancy should not deny a registered candidate the opportunity to complete national examinations, provided the candidate is medically fit to sit the papers.