A 17-year-old Primary Seven candidate, Fiona Kisakye, reportedly lost her sight while sitting her first Primary Leaving Examination (PLE) paper at Kisaana Bataka Primary School in Lwengo District.
The incident forced her to leave the examination room in tears after she suddenly became unable to see anything printed on her examination paper.
Speaking to the media outside the examination room, Kisakye said she could not see the contents of the white examination paper despite repeatedly trying to clear her eyes. However, she said her sight returned after she stepped outside the examination room.
“I was not seeing anything printed on that white paper even when I tried to force my eyes. But when I moved outside, I could clearly see everything,” she said in tears.
Kisakye explained that the episode began with a headache, followed by eye pain and excessive tearing before she eventually lost her sight.
“It started as a headache, and my eyes started aching as tears flowed. From there, I started not seeing anything,” she said.
Her teachers revealed that this was not the first time Kisakye had experienced the condition. They said she had suffered a similar episode during the second term, prompting her parents to seek medical attention, after which her condition reportedly stabilised.
Her mother, Annet Nakalunga, said her daughter had previously been in good health, but episodes of sudden vision loss began when she was in Primary Five (P5).
“She was normal, but the issue of abrupt blindness began in P5. She completed her P6 with that challenge, but in P7, the problem persisted. When she reaches school, her eyes become blurry, and she cannot see printed notices or even what is written on the blackboard,” she said.
Nakalunga further revealed that her daughter’s sight usually improves after receiving medical attention, but the problem returns whenever she goes back to school.
“I have taken her to both government and private hospitals, and whenever I take her there, her eyes stabilise. But when she goes back to school, the problem returns. It starts with a headache, stomachache, and then she loses her sight,” she said.
