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Students boycott classes over loan delays
By
George Ntonya - 14-12-2002 |
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University of Malawi students on Friday stayed away from classes in protest against government over loans.
The students said in separate interviews that they were afraid university
colleges would not open in time next semester because of financial setbacks
created by the loans’ delay.
Government announced it would provide loans to students following the hike of contribution fees from K1,500 last year to the present K25,000 per academic year to ensure that students from poor families do not fail to proceed with education due to lack of fees.
Students from the four of the five constituent colleges of the University of Malawi—Polytechnic, Chancellor College, Kamuzu College of Nursing and Bunda College of Agriculture—staged the sit-in to protest over the delayed release of loans and government’s new policy that only “needy students” access the loans.
The sit-in was called by the university students’ mother body, the University of Malawi Students’ Union (Umsu).
Minutes of the University Loan Scheme Committee meeting held in Lilongwe on November 5, 2002, said the current practice that every student benefits from the scheme has been changed and that it will now target only needy students because of lack of funds.
Newly-elected Polytechnic Students Union (PSU) president Wakisa Mwalughali said in an interview yesterday the sit-in at his institution was very peaceful. He described the development as a sign of maturity among students.
Mwalughali said the students would return to class awaiting the results of the meeting.
A representative of the students at Kamuzu College of Nursing in Lilongwe Rodwell Gundo said government was supposed to disburse the loans at the start of the academic year but up to now nothing has happened.
“We are about to go on Christmas holiday and our fear is that the college might not open in time next semester due to lack of funds,” he said.
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