Ex-Unima students join fees hike battle

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Chancellor College Great Hall

Former students of the University of Malawi (Unima) have blamed the council for hiking fees without considering the current economic woes in the country.

Speaking to the local press, former Polytechnic Students Union (PSU) president Davies Jiva said the hike has not been balanced to both the colleges and students.

“Much as we appreciate that the cost of education is high following poor performance of our economy, they could have also considered that people out there are also having same problems, parents have not been given salary increment so where will they get the money to pay for education?” wondered Jiva.

Chanco.
Ex students want Unima fees lowered.

He then urged the students to accept a “reasonable” fee hike arguing that the current economic atmosphere pushes for increase of tuition fees in colleges.

Last week, Unima students opted to hold vigils at university council offices to force the council to reverse its decision to hike fees in public universities by authorities.

However, the vigils yielded some challenges as students were arrested and authorities closed the college indefinitely due to riots which began after police interfered to stop the students from holding peaceful protests.

Meanwhile, 14 students from the Malawi Polytechnic have been arrested following demonstrations of Friday at the college in protest of the fees hike.