To weed or not to weed
In the past several weeks, there has been a debate, which I would call a healthy debate, starting off with (I think) Minister of Education, Science and Technology Dr Lucious Kanyumba. The honourable minister was quoted as having said government was concerned that many young men and women who enrolled in the universities end up not completing their studies as they are withdrawn on academic grounds.
This practice, called “weeding” in common day usage, was so rampant that it was reported that at least 400 students had been withdrawn from the University of Malawi (Unima) alone between this and last academic year. Fast forward to December 5 2013 when Unima had its graduation ceremony, the university’s chancellor and Head of State Dr Joyce Banda also talked about what has been known as “learning by rumour”.
The President did not define what learning by rumour means. What learning by rumour means is that classes have become so large, and with no public address systems available and no space for students to sit, students are very far away, sometimes outside the classroom that what is being taught cannot be heard or seen. When the lecturer speaks, those students closest to her hears or sees whatever is happening in front and the student at the back or outside ‘learns’ third or fourth hand.
Who is responsible for the weeding that goes on in our public universities? Some people have pointed an accusing hand towards the university itself. The accusations towards universities are like this: lecturers are not teaching as many are moonlighting and hardly teaching, some lecturers take pride in failing and not passing students, lecturers are ill-prepared to teach and the universities have taken in more students than they can handle. Some people have accused government, i.e. Capital Hill has not cared to allocate enough resources to public resources in the face of increased enrolment, the government’s insistence to increase access to education is a problem that needs to be stemmed, the quota system allows less than deserving students to access university education and the self-catering and self-housing policy as introduced by government is what is killing our students.
Parents and guardians have not been left off the hook if we want to exhaust all the culprits. Many people have suggested that what government is putting in as financing to the universities is enough. But parents and guardians do not want to take up their responsibilities. The cost of university education cannot be K55 000 per semester and yet the student also gets a living allowance.
Parents are sending their children to kindergarten schools where they pay more than K55 000 per term and yet when the same child goes to the university, they want a free ride. There is also an observation that university education cannot just be a factor of concern to the student or lecturers but society as a whole. If parents, lecturers and government do not have one goal, then the results are what we are seeing now. Is there agreement as to what solutions ought to be implemented?
