Malawi government stopped from raising fees in public schools

Advertisement
Malawi Parliament Peter Mutharika
Jessie Kabwila
Kabwila: Opposed the hike.

Malawi’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has been stopped from going ahead to hike school fees in colleges and secondary schools by the opposition in parliament.

Government and opposition on Thursday rocked horns on the purported decision by government to raise fees in the schools in a bid to help the staggering economy wake up from its slumber.

But opposition parties argue that this should have been done only when the country is out of the economic hardships it is facing.

Vocal Malawi Congress Party (MCP) Member of Parliament for Salima Central Felix Jumbe initially moved the motion which urged government to put a halt the whole essence of raising the fees.

Jumbe questioned the reasoning behind the aid hike saying that it is not right to call for the hike when the country is hit by economic woes.

He said 70 per cent of Malawians are extremely poor with the highest interest rate in Africa after South Sudan, a country that has been at war for many decades.

Jumbe was backed by Jessie Kabwila who said increasing the school fees in public secondary will necessitate the number of school dropout especially girls in the country.

Francis kasaila
Kasaila: Defended government.

The vocal activist also argued that the planned hike will force many poor students to stop going to school, a development she said will propel illiteracy levels in the country.

But government through its leader in the House, Francis Kasaila turned its ire on why the opposition would want to block the decision.

He said that the legislators have no mandate to stop what the executive arm of government agreed.

Government continues to face stumbling blocks to bring the economy back on track.

Just recently Malawi24 was highly tipped that the Peter Mutharika led government intends to sack some of its civil servants as a means of saving funds to run other core issues nationally.

Among other things government has failed to employ nurses it trained it public training institutions, a development that led to an incessant brain drain lately.

Teachers trained under the flagship Initial Primary Teachers Education (IPTE) are reportedly failing to the same dungeon.