Headteacher rejects food brought for pupil by bodaboda

A primary school head teacher in Jinja Municipality has rejected food that had been delivered to one of the pupils at his school by a motorcyclist.

Emmanuel Gusango, of St Nicholas Primary School narrated how he declined to receive food containers that had been brought by a cyclist during a visitation day on Sunday.

Whereas Gusango expected parents to take time off from their busy schedule and attend in person, one of the parents opted to send food using a cyclist.

He said it was very dangerous for any responsible and serious parent to send the food by a motorcyclist adding that even if the parent had communicated about the move, it was dangerous to entrust someone with food.

"I have questioned the manner in which this food was brought, I decided to keep it out of reach of the pupil who it was destined for," Gusango said.

Gusango said that upon arrival at the gate, the cyclist attempted to leave it with the gatekeeper but he refused until he called him to receive it.

"The cyclist told me that he had been sent by a parent to deliver the food but I received it and kept it in our stores," he narrated.

Pupils perform a play on HIV/AIDS. Photo by Jackie Nambogga

Whereas his decision caused murmurs among the parents, they backed the head teacher's decision saying it could have been sent by someone with ill intentions.

"Some of us have co-wives, they can decided to revenge on our children, let the child feast on the meal that has been prepared by the school instead of risking his life," Mary Nabirye a parent said.

Another parent Andrew Mukova asked the school administration to be more careful saying the stranger could use any trick.

Also, Gusango said other parents with children in day section of the school were fond of sending them on motorcycles which leave them at the entrance of gate without taking them into the school.

He farther added that other parents have a tendency of sending bodaboda cyclist to pick their children's report cards without stepping at school.

"These meetings help us to identify the challenges of our children in terms of academics and discipline so that we improve on them collectively but others leave the roles to the school alone. This is wrong if we want to have holistic children," Gusango said.