Unima reopens Dec 4

University of Malawi (Unima) has set December 4 2022 for reopening following a month’s closure due to students’ protests.

The decision follows the Unima Senate’s recommendations with conditions, including students paying K3 831.37 each towards the damages and costs incurred during protests.

In a memo dated November 29 2022, signed by Unima acting registrar Mary Wasiri, students are also expected to commit to learn using the blended approach of face-to-face and online mode of deliveries.

“It is, therefore, expected that, if agreeable to the conditions above, each student will sign a commitment letter in their portal,” reads the memo in part.

On the actual damage and its value, Wasiri in a written response, was elusive, saying “the total cost of what needs to be replaced has been divided by the total number of students”.

She said students participated in the protest as a group and had a common enterprise; hence, sharing the cost.

Reacting to the senate’s decision to reopen the university, Unima students body welcomed the development.

However, in a statement issued yesterday evening and signed by the student body’s president Humble Bondo and vice-general secretary Promise Banda, they observed that the amount the university has set as a condition is contentious.

Reads the statement in part: “The bigger picture in this context is for us to finish our studies without undue delay. SRC [Student Representative Council], therefore, believes that, despite our categorical objection to their first condition, it is in our best interest to comply with their demands and continue on our degree sojourn.”

In a related development, Unima says the second semester of the 2022/23 academic year will have a double cohort for first year students. This comes against a background that lecturers complained that classes are huge.

When asked on Unima’s approval to have double cohort, Chancellor College Academic Staff Union president Dr. Tiyesere Mercy Chikapa declined to comment.

Unima management closed the institution on November 2 this year, citing the vigils students had been holding to push for a review of the academic calendar.