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The Uganda National Examinations Board-UNEB has raised concern about the increasing use of slang during examinations

09 February, 2023
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According to UNEB, students are increasingly using jargon and can hardly express themselves without applying slang. Dan Odongo, the Executive Director of UNEB, notes the use of slang is one of the factors affecting the performance of learners not only in English and Literature but also in other subjects that require constructing sentences.

 

Odongo adds that during marking some examiners could not tell what the learners meant. For instance, he points out that many learners are writing informal shorthand like “b4” to mean “before. Odongo says that the use of slang in examinations can have negative effects on a student's results and can be misinterpreted by examiners leading to poor scores.

 

Dr. Grace Baguma, the Executive Director at the National Curriculum Development Centre, attributes the spread of slang to social media.

 

Alex Okwaput, a teacher at Kololo Secondary School also says the use of phones by children has a profound effect on their way of life and directly influences their response to questions. Okwaput says it is common to see children as young as four years using WhatsApp, which can lead to the adoption of an abbreviated and informal language style as they grow up.   

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