Head teachers from different schools line up for food coupons at the Wonderworld Amusement Park in Kansanga at the opening of the Senior One selection exercise yesterday. PHOTO by stephen otage.

As thousands of Primary Seven leavers continue to mourn over failure to gain access to their first choice schools, about 113,455 have failed to get admission at all.
According to figures from the Ministry of Education Selection Committee, out of the 444,815 candidates eligible to join Senior One, only 331,360 gained admission in the two-day selection exercise that closes this afternoon at Wonderworld Amusement Park in Kansanga.
This means that the rest will not be admitted despite having garnered the required aggregates. They will have to contend with finding places in private schools which did not participate in the selection exercise. However, the figure is lower than 155,716 who missed admission last year.
A total of 343,880 were absorbed in the 4,414 government and private schools, slightly more than 275,990 who were admitted last year. A total of 917 government-aided schools across the country, which run the free Universal Secondary Education programme, will admit 195,860 students this year compared to 152,410 last year.
Privately-owned schools, which implement the USE programme, will admit another 105,840 Students, up from 79,629 admitted last year. Another 27,180 students will join schools that are supported by the government but do not operate the USE programme, for example Kibuli SS. Another 2,480 will join the 62 vocational institutions, a drop from 960 admitted last year.
Many school head teachers blamed the cut-down on limited facilities and the need to improve the learning environment.
“To maintain our standards, we have considered only those students we think can post better grades,” said Mr Bakka Male ,the head teacher King’s College, Budo.
Of the 2,106 P.7 pupils who put their first choices at Budo ,only 120 were admitted. Many head teachers Daily Monitor spoke to also said they had been overwhelmed by the number of applications.
“I wish we could take more students but our facilities can only absorb this number,” said Mr Vally Tumwesigye , the head teacher Sacred Heart School-Mushanga. The school only admitted 180 students out of 1,017 who applied.
A number of head teachers said many students were left out partly because of the good performance in last year’s PLE but also the poor choices they made.
Mr Michael Mpiima, the head teacher of Ssaku SS, Luweero said: “Many choose only big schools for their first, second, third and fourth choices and at the end of the day, they miss out.”
Most top schools stiffened competition as they announced cut-off points. King’s College Budo, Gayaza High School, Nabisunsa Girls, St. Mary’s Kisubi and Mt. St. Mary’s Namagunga said they would not take anyone above Aggregate four and five for boys and girls respectively.
Last year, all these schools accepted students with aggregate six. Other top schools like Ntare, Kibuli SS, Seeta High School and Uganda Martyrs Namugongo limited their admission to Aggregate six and seven.
The director for Basic Education, Dr Yusuf Nsubuga, speaking at the opening the selection exercise, said some private school would come in handy.
editorial@ug.nationmedia.com