Students from public universities have given President Lazarus Chakwera 14 days to intervene in the issue of tuition fee hike.
The development comes after some public universities have pegged their fees per academic year at K650,000 or more.
Leading the concerned students at a press briefing in Lilongwe Monday, law student Charles Dokera described as “unfair” the decision to raise fees from K350,000 to K650,000 at the University of Malawi.
“Our greatest concern is that most students will be forced to withdraw from school on financial grounds. This will be the end of their future,” he said.
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However, Information Minister Moses Kunkuyu said the institutions in question submitted higher proposed hikes but President Lazarus Chakwera intervened to keep fees “relatively” low.
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“For instance, Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources wanted to increase fees to K800,000 from K250,000 and the Malawi University of Business and Applied Sciences proposed K1.5 million. Again, as I am speaking, the number of student loans beneficiaries has been increased to 25,000 from 15,000 in 2019. With the budget requirement of K4 billion, as it stands now, every student would be able to get a loan as the government subsidised K3.9 million,” Kunkuyu said.
Last week, some opposition members of Parliament also expressed concern with the tuition fee hike in public universities, saying citizens are already reeling under socio-economic problems.
