Stakeholders reject UNIMA fee hike

Stakeholders have raised a concern over the decision made by the Council of University of Malawi UNIMA on fee hike saying this will increase the rate of school dropout among Malawian students.

This was said in Lilongwe on Tuesday evening during a stakeholders meeting organised by the Council aimed at discussing the fee hike.

In his remarks Executive Director of Civil Society Education Coalition Benedicto Kondowe said the meeting was just a waste of resources as nothing concrete was agreed.

Kondowe said the meeting was only beneficial to the council because views of invited organizations were not taken into consideration.

“The council would have organized the meeting before raising the fees and the fee hike will benefit students from rich families,” said Kondowe.

Speaking earlier Chairperson of UNIMA Council professor Jack Wilima said it has hiked the fees to improve education standards as they have dwindled.

Wilima said “government has not been sponsoring them frequently as it used in the past therefore the Council has been engaging itself in a lot of activities to raise funds for the university.”

On the matter of helping needy students he said the Loans Board will make sure that all have access to quality education.