Students from two closed University of Malawi (Unima) constituent colleges, Chancellor College and The Polytechnic, on Thursday officially presented their case to the Education, Science and Human Resources Committee of Parliament to seek the intervention of the House to solve the current stand-off.
Both committee chairperson Frank Viyazyi and Polytechnic Students Union president Wakisa Simukonda confirmed the meeting between the students and members of the committee. They said it was held at the Parliament Building in the capital, Lilongwe.
Viyazyi said after meeting the students, the committee members felt that the students have a case. But he said the matter will only be tackled after meeting and hearing out the other parties in the issue.
He said: “We just met them today [Thursday] and we are also planning to meet the secretary for Education, secretary to the Treasury, the task force created by the Chancellor to look at the issue and also the Pro-Vice Chancellor. We are expecting to meet these parties next week.
“After the meetings, we will circulate the minutes to the House.”
Simukonda was accompanied to the meeting by his Chancellor College counterpart, Israel Masiyano.
According to Viyazyi, the students basically raised two issues which have to do with the demand to have their subsistence allowance increased and also the concern over the increased fees for self sponsored students.
Fees for self-sponsored students was recently raised to K250 000 (about $625).
In an interview, Simukonda said they have hope that Parliament will assist in resolving their issues.
Government ordered the closure of the two colleges on May 10, but the students initially successfully challenged the closure through the courts before the council appealed and had the ruling overturned.
