Students seek MPs’ intervention on Chanco closure

Their gravest concern is the Chancellor College (Chanco) as students have opted for intervention from Parliamentary Committee on Education to have the University of Malawi’s (UNIMA) constituent college opened.

This follows a meeting that students had with the parliamentary committee on education in Lilongwe on Wednesday.

In a memo addressed to the students, Chanco Students Union leader Sylvester Ayuba James said they have requested Members of Parliament (MPs) under the education committee to hold talks with concerned parties on the closure of the college.

Ayuba James added that the committee must push for the college to be opened while striking academic staff at Chanco hold talks with university council.

“We requested that the parliamentary committee on education should step up its intervention in the current dispute by meeting both parties involved and taking all relevant and necessary steps both within the national assembly and outside, to secure the opening of our college not later than early July,” reads part of the memo made available to Malawi24.

Chairperson of the committee Elias Chakwera has assured the students that they will make sure the college is opened soon.

Though Malawian universities rank low in Africa due to lack of competitive research, the persistent closure of the public higher learning institutions is also said to be a factor for UNIMA’s low rank.

The strikes usually follow demands either by lectures or support staff on upkeep allowances or salary increment.