Makerere University has lost electronic data for at least 103,000 Senior Six leavers, who applied for government sponsorship indifferent universities last year,” reports the Daily Monitor.
According to reports Public University Joint Admissions Board (PUJAB) data crashed before the selection process for this year was completed, a development officials have confirmed.
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Makerere University deputy Vice Chancellor in-charge of Academic Affairs Prof Umar Kakumba confirmed the incident.
“This should not cause alarm within the public because we have all those Jab applications in hard copies and they are being recaptured and will be ready before the lockdown ends,” Prof Kakumba told the Daily Monitor.
The universities now might be forced to extend the date for admission which is supposed be May.
Makerere University houses PUJAB where registrars from other public universities meet to do the annual selections.
No student can be admitted to a public university or tertiary institution on government sponsorship unless they filled the Joint Admissions Board (JAB) forms before sitting their Senior Six examinations administered by Uganda National Examinations Board.
The government sponsored list is usually out by May 22 before admission for private students is issued and a number of parents have been seen on social media inquiring whether the list is out.
The Daily Monitor quoting sources reported that the lists might be delayed after the online system crashed.
“The staff at the university had captured all the data in time but all data has disappeared. There is panic and pressure at the university as staff have been recalled from the lockdown to recapture the date from the physical forms to the online system so this will automatically cause delays,” the sources reportedly said.
Sources quoted by Daily Monitor reportedly added the system crashed at the time when the university was slated to send the data to the Ministry of Education to start considering those students who will have qualified for government sponsorship for the academic year 2020/2021.
“I do not know if the process will not be compromised because there are some people who could have filled out low courses with hope that they would not perform well and only to excel. So with insiders, don’t you think manipulations can take place and vice versa. We suspect a possibility of doctoring information in order to suit particular courses based on the results,” sources added.
Prof Kakumba, however, reportedly said this would not cause any delays given the ongoing Covid-19 lockdown.
He reportedly said the meeting, where all representatives from public universities sit to select the suitable students for sponsorship, will only be done after the lockdown.
