Debate ensued in Parliament Thursday, as members of Parliament (MPs) expressed concern over the recent increase in public universities tuition fees.
Leader of the Opposition in Parliament Kondwani Nankhumwa and other opposition legislators asked the government to reduce the fees.
Using Standing Order 14, Nankhumwa moved the august House to discuss the matter, arguing that it was not right for universities to hike tuition fees considering the current economic challenges Malawians are facing.
He said, for instance, that Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (Luanar) has just raised tuition fees for undergraduate students from K350,000 to K600,000— and up to K1 million for mature entry students.
“This is simply unaffordable and, therefore, unacceptable. Madam Speaker, I would like to appeal to the government to intervene in this issue because it is becoming too much for parents and guardians to raise tuition fees,” he said.
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Nankhumwa claimed that about 2,000 students were already on the verge of withdrawing from public universities on financial grounds.
He cited inflation, increased maize prices, shortage of forex, fuel shortage and Tropical Cyclone Freddy effects as some of the challenges that have made things worse.
Mzimba North parliamentarian Yeremiah Chihana echoed the sentiments, saying raising tuition fees would frustrate students from resource-poor households, thereby defeating the government’s goal of developing human capital.
Responding on behalf of the government, Leader of the House Richard Chimwendo Banda said there were various interventions by the government to increase access to tertiary education services.
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He was also quick to say university tuition fees have not been increased since 2016 and that the higher learning institutions wanted to adjust with a much higher margin but the government refused.
“For instance, Mubas [Malawi University of Business and Applied Sciences] wanted the fees to be at K1.5 million. We said we cannot go there. Luanar wanted the fees to be at K800,000; we said [no], we cannot go there,” Chimwendo Banda said.
He added that there is a need for a comprehensive approach in addressing the problem, including continuing with the student loans programme, which has a deficit of K4 billion, to reach out to all the needy students in the universities.
“We are funding our universities in time to make sure academic calendars are not affected. On the issue of fees, what the universities demanded is higher,” he said.
