Police in Nsanje have arrested a bicycle taxi operator (wa Kabaza) after he was captured carrying at least eight children on his bicycle.
The bicycle operator was transporting nursery school children at Sorijin in the district and he loaded about eight of them on his bicycle, thus putting the children’s lives at risk.
In a video that has gone viral, the bicycle rider told Nsanje chief education officer Grace Mulima that it is his routine to transport young children on his bicycle taxi to the yet to be identified nursery school.
Speaking to Malawi24, Elita Chimenya a nursery school tutor at Chisomo Kids in Kawale 1, Lilongwe said the practise is worrisome as it exposes the innocent children to death if slightly mistake happens on the road.
“You cannot do that to your little ones, it is dangerous. Parental care starts when you are assured of the safety of the child,” she said.
Education Expertise Development Foundation (EEDF) communication officer Haward Mlozi said loading children on a bicycle the way the Nsanje operator did defeats the initial purpose of sending the children to school.
“Parents have to comply with traffic laws of the country, you cannot transport young child on the bicycle. Possibilities of uncertainties are too high,” he said.
This is an eye opener to the Ministry of Education as well as the government. This shows that preschools are not enough and are not closer the communities. We need more preprimary schools in our communities. We don’t need to walk long distance for a school. Education is a fundemental right for every child whether coming poor family or rich family. Unversal education must be encouraged at all cost. I believe that if this preprimary school was closer or in the community where these kids are coming from, I don’t think something like this could happened. This guy was just trying to make ends meet and also to help the society without knowing the consequences of his actions….. I believe he was ignorant of traffic regulations. I for one I don’t think that in a normal circumstance the parents of these children would take this chance or risk their children to go by bicycle if there was a nearby school. Government should consider preprimary education as one of the priorities in the education framework. Preprimary education should be part or integrated into the education main stream in Malawi. The government must introduce preprimary education in every primary for children around the vicinity. Teachers for preprimary schools need to be respected, educated and receive good train just like any other teachers trained in the colleges. It is high time to change our mind set of thinking that teaching is for those who did not do well or get good points at secondary school. This image can only changed in society if the government start respecting teachers by giving them good salaries and benefits. This will change the image of a teacher in the society and will earn them respect which the deserve.