The Ministry of Education has abolished all fees students in public secondary schools pay to the government.
The change is effective 1st January, 2019.
Minister of Education Bright Msaka told reporters at a news conference in Lilongwe today that the President Peter Mutharika administration has immediately abolished tuition fees while general purpose fund and the textbook revolving fund in all government owned secondary schools will be scrapped in January, 2019.
This means students in government day secondary schools will not be required to pay any fees to government except development fees which is paid to the school.
Those in public boarding schools will also be required to pay boarding fees.
Msaka said students who cannot afford to pay boarding fees will have the option of transferring to day secondary schools.
According to a teacher at one public secondary school in Zomba, students at the school pay K9500 fees with K500 being tuition while general purpose fund is K250 and the textbook revolving fund is also K250. The rest, K8500, is a contribution to the school’s development fund.
Recently, government told schools not to receive tuition fees from students, a move the raised questions over government’s intentions.
How much is that in total
Total madness