Education

Is there hope for Unima students’ strikes?

There are two parties—or say point of views, to every conflict.

University of Malawi (Unima) students, precisely those from Chancellor College and the Polytechnic, want government to increase living allowances for government-sponsored students because of the soaring cost of living.

Government, through the University Council, argues they do not have the money, at present, to meet the students’ demand.

As expected, students took to the streets, pushing government to rescind. Government only reacted by closing down the colleges—something students challenged with a court injunction.

As former president Bingu wa Mutharika once said, ‘there are casualties in every conflict’. In this conflict, it appears that, students have turned out to be the casualties.

Not only because they are missing classes. But also because public opinion, gauged from comments on various social networks, appears to be condemning them as ‘demanding too much’.

But who actually is to blame for this conflict? Is it the students ‘demanding too much’ or failure of government policy?

In the past, after selecting students to its various colleges, Unima could meet the tuition and book allowance itself without involving the students. The students could only sign a loan agreement.

This changed three years ago. In a move to increase intake and also improve the quality of food students take, Unima introduced a system where selection fell into three categories. These include: residential government sponsored, non-residential government sponsored and self-sponsored students.

The two streams of ‘government sponsored’ are the ones that receive subventions in terms of tuition, book allowance and living allowance. The self-sponsored group meets the full fees on their own.

So where is the current conflict coming from?

According to Wakisa Simukonda, president of Polytechnic Student Union (PSU), the students have two concerns.

“One, government sponsored students want their living allowance raised from the current K40 000 (about $100) to K62 000 (about $155), and two, the fees for the self-sponsored students reduced from K250 000 (about $625) to, at least, K180 000 (about $450),” he says.

Even Israel Masiyano, president of Chancellor College Student Union, agrees.

“The perception out there is that we are making exorbitant demands yet that is not true. We want redress because we are learning under tough conditions,” he says.

But are they?

Consider this: Currently, per year, government sponsored students, through government loans, pay K55 000 (about $137.50) as tuition fees per year and receive K30 000 (about $75) as book allowance. Apart from that, they receive K40 000 (about $100) per month as living allowance to cater for their food and accommodation.

What students are demanding, according to Simukonda and Masiyano, is for government to review the living allowance for government sponsored students and effect a reasonable reduction to the self-sponsored student’s tuition fees.

The K40 000 living allowance, argues Simukonda, was reviewed last year in July.

“The figure came about after calculating that per day a student will be spending K1 050 on food and those selling the food will also heed to the price. It was, at least, better. But the devaluation and floatation of the kwacha, as everybody knows, has changed commodity pricing in the country,” he says.

For instance, at the beginning of this year, explains Masiyano, Sunbird—a company selling meals at Chanco—were selling meals at K650 ($1.62) and after negotiating they reduced lunch and supper to K550 (about $1.37) and breakfast at K300 (72 US cents).

“But the money students receive per year was still as it was calculated on K350 (about 87 US cents). As such, most students are searching for cheap and substandard food in the squatters,” he says.

At Polytechnic, according to Simukonda, Kips Restaurant—the company that provides meals at their cafeteria—is, currently, selling breakfast at K500 (about $1.25), while lunch and supper is at K600 (about $1.50).

“The move is forcing students to search for cheaper meals even in unsafe environments. Come to Poly around lunch, you will find students preparing m’memo with guards. I don’t know if it is university life anymore,” he says.

So, are the students wrong to demand a hike to their living allowance?

Benedicto Kondowe, executive director of Civil Society Education Coalition (Csec), argues that it is understandable that the cost of living has gone up.

“We are mindful that the value of our currency has gone down as compared to last year. As such, the students are not wrong,” he says.

However, Kondowe argues that Malawians need to look at the larger picture.

“We need to understand that this is coming up because government has, since time immemorial, provided subventions to university students. This has taken away responsibility of students and parents in the country’s university system,” he says.

Even Dr Steve Sharra, an educationist, agrees.

“We have a system that dries up State coffers. It is only comparable with rich countries such as Germany and Norway. Otherwise, a number of developing countries emphasise on the payment of fees by students,” he says.

Sharra cites an example of the US, where he was educated, saying the country provides students with education loans.

“They have a robust system of recovering these loans. This is one thing we need to learn from because, for years, many people have benefited from Unima loans yet they do not repay because [of the poor] loan repayment mechanism,” argues Sharra.

So what should be the way forward?

“We need to examine the fee paying system in our colleges. The current one is a mockery. We need to raise the fees, and provide loans to a few, proven needy students. Beyond that, we need to come up with a strong loan repayment mechanism so that the money is recovered,” he says.

Beyond that Kondowe adds that Malawi needs to review the University Act.

“We need to make it in such a way that colleges should be able to raise funds and manage themselves,” he says.

What Kondowe argues is on the long-term. Yet Chancellor College and Polytechnic students keep waiting for government to meet their needs..

“It’s either they compromise, swallow their pride and accept the K40 000 or else stay without classes, battling endless wars in courts,” advises Kondowe.

Surely, however justified the students concerns are, they will remain casualties because of poor management of the university system by government.

Related Articles

Check Also
Close
Back to top button