Students take St John of God College to court
Four students have taken to court Mzuzu-based St John of God College of Health Sciences over its decision to withdraw eight students in the third month of their studies due to lack of credit passes in physical science in their Malawi School Certificate of Education (MSCE) examinations.
Mid this year, the college enrolled the students after going through interviews and after producing copies of their MSCE. The students were asked to report for school on August 3 after paying K125 000 (US$250) non-refundable fees. They also received admission letters.
According to an affidavit sworn by one of the students, Francis Chigwenembe, submitted in the High Court, the students got registered on August 4 this year and, as a requirement, they were also asked to produce their original certificates, which were duly accepted by the institution.
The students were also asked to pay indexing fees, which they did.
However, on October 20, the students received letters from the institution’s coordinator of academic programmes stating that the Nurses and Midwives Council of Malawi rejected to index them because their MSCE grades were inadequate.
In the letters, the students were advised to either continue with the theory part of the programme and make another MSCE attempt or withdraw. But on October 31, they were withdrawn.
Lawyer representing the students, Christon Ghambi, on Wednesday said the court granted an injunction, but due to the ongoing Judiciary support staff strike, the injunction was yet to be signed by the registrar for it to be served to the college.
