Published on 06/03/2025
Foreign Affairs Committee has urged the government to collaborate with Burundi to establish a Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) exam center there.
The report highlights that Ugandan curriculum is already being taught in Burundian schools. Currently, students must travel to Uganda to sit for Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) exams. A local center would ease access and reduce costs for learners. The proposal aims to strengthen educational ties and regional cooperation.
The report presented by Hon. Gabriel Okumu (NRM, Okoro County) during the plenary sitting on Wednesday, 05 March 2025 observed that the requirement for these learners to travel to Uganda is costly and caused psychological strain on students.
“The Ministry of Education and Sports in collaboration with Ministry of Foreign Affairs, should engage the Government of Burundi through diplomatic channels to negotiate and formalise the establishment of a UNEB examination centre in Burundi. This will reduce the financial burden and psychological strain on learners traveling to Uganda for exams and encourage more schools in Burundi to adopt and promote the Ugandan curriculum,” said Okumu.
He also urged the Ministry of Education and Sports to work closely with schools teaching the Ugandan curriculum in Burundi to ensure they meet the necessary requirements for establishing a UNEB centre.
“The ministry informed the committee that it was feasible to grant a UNEB centre, provided the schools met specific requirements including recruiting qualified head teachers in accordance with the Ugandan standards and employing at least six qualified teachers who also meet Ugandan standards,” Okumu added.
He also noted that the Minister for Education and Sports will be required to issue a statutory instrument to legalise the operations of the UNEB centre.
The report on the committee’s oversight visit to the Embassy of Uganda in Bujumbura, Burundi also highlighted key areas of concern in the sectors of tourism, trade and investment.
To improve trade and investment, the committee recommended that Uganda’s mission in Burundi should be adequately funded to enable it conduct aggressive export promotion strategies and initiate bilateral agreements to strengthen cooperation in the industrial sector.
The committee also recommended that Uganda’s Embassy in Burundi should strengthen partnerships with Burundian tour operators and media outlets to promote Uganda’s key tourist attractions.
In a related development, Okumu also presented a report of the committee’s oversight visit to the Uganda High Commission in Kigali, Rwanda, which noted a decrease in trade volumes and emergence of new competitors owing to the closure of the Uganda-Rwanda border between March 2019 and January 2022.
The report indicates that before the border closure, Rwanda was Uganda’s fifth largest export market with trade volumes valued at Shs124.4 billion in 2019.
“Rwanda sought alternative markets, allowing other competitors to establish a presence in sectors previously dominated by Ugandan products. Rwanda also accelerated development of its domestic industries to manufacture goods that were previously imported from Uganda, thereby reducing reliance on Ugandan exports,” reads the report in part.
The committee recommended that Uganda’s Minister for Foreign Affairs urgently schedules a consultative meeting with their Rwandese counterpart as agreed during the Joint Permanent Commission (JPC) held in March 2023.
Okumu noted that the move will ensure smooth implementation of the decisions of the JPC and strengthen bilateral relations between Uganda and Rwanda.
