President Lazarus Chakwera says his administration deliberately abolished the quota system to enable more deserving students to be selected to the country’s public universities.
He noted that the quota system was ‘evil’ and that it denied many deserving students entry into the country’s public universities.
Chakwera, who is also the Chancellor of the country’s five public universities, was speaking on Wednesday in Zomba during a joint graduation ceremony of three public universities, namely Kamuzu University of Health Sciences, Malawi University of Business and Applied Sciences and University Malawi (Unima).
He said: “In my reflections on this at the time, I had to consider the dysfunctional systems we would need to dismantle in our higher education spaces and rubble we would need to clear from the same in order to build new foundations for a new Malawi that is coming.
“It is this foundational work that led me to dismantle the evil quota system that the previous administration used to disenfranchise so many students deserving of entry into our higher education in order to give preference to their tribal agendas.
“It is this foundational work that led me to complete the unbundling of the universities in order to give higher education more focus on developing the skills we need for building a middle-income economy by 2030.”
Chakwera said if he returns to power after the September 16 General Election, his administration would create about three million jobs and expressed optimism that some of the graduates will be beneficiaries of his programmes.
“I am sure that those of you graduating today will be beneficiaries of the 3 million jobs that we have earmarked to create between this coming September and August 2030, and that you will, in fact, be among some of the industrious individuals to whom we will give some of the K500 billion in loans that we will distribute to job creators in the next five years.
“For this reason, I do not only congratulate you for graduating today, but I also invite you to join the movement of patriotic Malawians who will build on the foundation we have been laying since 2020 and ensure that we create a middle-income economy by 2030 as we have set out to do in the Malawi 2063 Vision,” he said.
On his part, Unima Vice-Chancellor Samson Sajidu urged graduates to desist from corruption and other malpractices at their respective working places.
He noted that some of the people involved in corruption are graduates and wondered where they learn such malpractice, saying there is no university that promotes corruption in the country.
Said Sajidu: “There is no course in our curriculum that teaches bribery or dishonesty. Please resist temptations of taking shortcuts or compromise your values on temporary gains.”
In an interview, one of the graduates from Kuhes, Linda Mkandawire, vowed to work towards improving the quality of patients’ life.
“I will not allow my judgement regarding the practice of my profession to be influenced by race, creed, religion, greed or unethical behaviour,” she said.
The graduation, which continues today, will see about 2 600 students obtaining their diplomas and degrees after successful completion of their studies.
