Over 300 Poly first years struggling with life in college

At least 300 out of the 1 761 first year students at the Polytechnic, a constituent college of the University of Malawi (Unima) in Blantyre, are said to be in dire need of school fees, accommodation and money for their upkeep.

Dean of Students at the Polytechnic, Luciano Ndalama, told Malawi News Agency (Mana) on Friday that the situation requires urgent intervention of various stakeholders or a number of students would continue to struggle throughout their studies.

According to Ndalama, while the Loans Board was responsible for providing needy students with school fees and at times upkeep for expenses, the board was failing to satisfy the demand due to limited funds.

“The Loans Board assists those it can within the available resources, but still fails to meet the demand as a number of deserving students are left out, resulting in them being rendered helpless as it is the case right now,” said Ndalama.

He said the figure of needy students has risen this year due to increase in the number of students the college has admitted as a result of double cohorts (a combination of students selected from different years) caused by the delay in the starting of a new academic calendar.

Ndalama attributed the magnitude of the challenge to admitting students according to classroom space as opposed to bed space, which has resulted in the need for most students to source accommodation and meals elsewhere.

Polytechnic registrar Moses Mwenye, however, insisted that the college was copying well with the increased number of first years.

He said the fact that the college has enough lecture rooms to accommodate the students was an indication that the institution could cope with the pressure.

Mwenye added that the college has secured 500 chairs to ensure that no student learns while standing.

“You may wish to know that as a lasting solution to the furniture problem, a consignment of chairs and desks imported from China, courtesy of the Public Sector Improvement Projects and the Skills Development Project were already on campus and currently being mounted,” Mwenye said.

He added that the World Bank, through the Higher Education, Science and Technology, were erecting a multi-lecture building which would be complete with modern furniture.

While acquisition of new furniture may delight management, Dismus Julius, a first year student admitted into the Energy Engineering faculty, tells a different story as he is one of the students in the dilemma over fees, accommodation and upkeep allowance.

Julius, who comes from a poor background, applied to the Loans Board for tuition without any success.

He claims, using money he got after some piecework at home, he has managed to pay just a month’s rentals at a hostel outside campus.

“I simply don’t have an idea of how I am going to progress with my studies given the situation I am in,” Julius said.

Executive director for the Higher Education Students Loans Board Chris Chisoni said K3.3 billion disbursed this year was not adequate as the board has always operated on a low budget.

“At least K9.7 billion could have been sufficient to assist all the needy students in our public colleges and this is the reason we keep on calling on the private sector to assist government in sourcing funds for this noble cause,” Chisoni said.