The Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) has officially released the 2026 national examination timetable for the Primary Leaving Examination (PLE), the Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE), and the Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE). According to the UNEB Executive Director, Dan Odongo, the national examinations season will commence on Thursday, October 8th, 2026, starting with the mandatory briefing of UCE candidates. This marks the third consecutive year that the Board will be assessing candidates under the new Competency-Based Curriculum for the lower secondary cycle.
The Primary Leaving Examination (PLE) is scheduled to run from Thursday, October 30th to Wednesday, November 4th, 2026. A total of Uganda's primary school students will sit for the exams. The Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE) examinations will kick off on Friday, November 7th and conclude on Friday, December 5th, 2026. The Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) exams will take place from October 8th to November 3rd, 2026.
The Board has issued a strong warning regarding candidate behavior as final preparations begin. “We wish to caution candidates against involvement in acts of indiscipline. Being a candidate does not put you over and above the school rules and regulations,” ED Odongo warned. “UNEB does not condone indiscipline and will not in any way support candidates who may be suspended or dismissed due to involvement in acts of indiscipline.
In line with legal requirements, UNEB has instructed all heads of centers, as well as district, city, and municipal inspectors of schools, to display the 2026 candidates’ registers for public viewing. As provided for under Article 4, Sub-Section 2 of the UNEB Act CAP 259, examination centers are legally compelled to display candidate lists sixty days before the commencement of national examinations.
For the 2026 cycle, the mandatory display period will continue until October 7th, 2026. Registers must be pinned in a conspicuous place on school notice boards and at respective district headquarters. “The purpose of the display is to enable candidates to confirm their registration status as well as the correctness of their biodata,” Odongo noted.
Candidates are advised to look out for correctness and order of names, date of birth, gender, resolution of the candidates’ photograph, as well as the subjects and papers registered for in the case of UCE and UACE candidates. After confirming registration status, candidates MUST sign on a parallel register to confirm correctness of the registration data.
The Board further guided that if any anomalies are discovered in the registration data, candidates must immediately inform school authorities. Heads of centers have been heavily cautioned to cross-check the accuracy of all candidate biodata before appending their signatures and institutional stamps to the final parallel registers.
Key points
- UNEB releases 2026 national examination timetable for PLE, UCE, and UACE exams
- Primary Leaving Examination (PLE) scheduled for October 30th to November 4th, 2026
- Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE) exams to take place from November 7th to December 5th, 2026
