With the Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) examinations currently underway and the Primary Leaving Examination (PLE) and Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE) exams scheduled for next month, a growing trend of parents and relatives gifting monetary cards to students in candidate classes as a way of wishing them success in their final exams has captured public attention.
The trend has triggered a variety of responses from the public, with some calling for the Ministry of Education to ban such practices, while others are more accepting of the trend, as long as the parents or relatives can afford it.
Videos circulating on social media showcase instances of lavish gifts being bestowed upon students. In one video, a parent presents their child with the latest iPhone, while another shows NBS TV’s MC Kats gifting his daughter with a bouquet of flowers alongside a substantial sum of Shs10,000 notes.
Well-known media personality Lucky Mbabazi took to her social media platform to seek opinions from her followers about the emerging trend.
She posted, “What is your opinion on parents who are gifting their children in candidate classes money as a form of wishing them success in their final exams?”
The post has elicited a wide array of responses from the public.
Muhairwe Alex voiced support for the trend, saying, “If the parents have the means, they should give money.”
On the contrary, Moses Wangokho suggested that parents might be resorting to monetary gifts as a way to compensate for limited parenting skills, stating, “They have limited skills in proper parenting, so they end up giving money to make up for that gap, little knowing they are making it worse for them.”
William Kituuka offered a balanced perspective, saying, “I think giving money is better and more motivational than a success card. However, for better results, that money should be given around a month before exams to allow the candidate ample time to prepare, and it should be a reasonable amount.”
@Aineku emphasized the importance of parents maintaining perspective, noting, “I don’t have any problem with the way parents love their children. My only advice would be that parents must always remember to tame their children’s entitlement and teach them to live in the absence of such excitement because they may not sustain it.”
@samsonnyimu5, however, expressed concerns about potential negative consequences, asserting, “That’s bribery, and it’s criminal corruption affecting the students’ futures in life and, in the long run, it will result in the failure of the students.”
As the public continues to debate the appropriateness of gifting money to candidates, the trend remains a topic of interest in the lead-up to the upcoming examinations.