Students advised on safety plans

 By AL-MAHDI SSENKABIRWA

In Summary

Officials say students are the first victims of fire outbreaks in schools.

Students have been urged to convince school administrators and parents to secure insurance covers for them to avoid losses in case of fire and burglary.

Speaking to students from Gombe SS on Saturday, Mr Robert Musitwa, the business development manager at Excel Insurance Company, said when such incidents occur, students are the first victims but little is done by administrators to guarantee their safety.

“It’s you who suffer when tragedies like fire befell the schools you attend and the onus is on you to demand for insurance cover,” he said.

Lesson
The students had a study tour at Excel Insurance Company offices in Kampala to get a feel of how the insurance business is run.

They were taken through doctrines of insurance, classes of insurance, procedure and steps followed and documents involved when taking out insurance, and factors considered when determining premium rates.

Mr Musa Kasajja, the head of business studies at Gombe SS, said students understand things better through study tours.

Several schools in the country have suffered fires which claimed lives of students and their property but because many are not insured, compensation usually becomes difficult.

Mr Musitwa advised the students to persuade their parents to embrace school fees insurance package that serves as a financial guarantee for a student’s education up to university in the unfortunate event of the death or disability of the insured parent.

The package includes personal accident cover for children and insurance of personal effects.