Govt Wants Cost Sharing; Higher Education, Secondary School Fees Revised, As Students Sponsorship Abolished

The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology has made some changes on fees paid in both secondary schools and Public Universities.

Changes that are with immediate effect in the 2015/2016 Academic Year, includes abolishes sponsorship towards students pursuing studies in Public Universities.

Magreta: we need cost sharing 

Mrs. Lonely Magreta, Secretary for Education, Science and Technology, announced the changes on Saturday in Lilongwe, at a press conference.

She said school fees at at the three levels; Secondary, Tertiary and High Level education were unrealistic and too little hence the need for cost sharing since "Government resource envelope cannot suffice to meet all the requirements"

She then expressed hope that new changes will improve the quality of education and help to make available of all necessary resources in education.

Changes On Secondary School fees

Mainly, Public Secondary school tuition fees per term have been revised from K500 to K3,000 and other changes are on Textbook Revolving Fund now at K3,000, General Purpose Fund at K2,000, MCDE module fee MK1,000 and Centre fee at K7,000 (for Open Secondary Schools) and  Development Fund is now at K2,000 which in the past varied between different schools depending on the project being undertaken in a particular school.

From the new figures, the total amount of money to be paid as school fees per term will be seen to be higher due to major changes made on boarding fees. But the revised secondary school fees will come into effect from 4th January, 2016

National Government Secondary Schools boarding fees have been revised from K1,500 to K25,000 whereas National Grant Aided Secondary Schools boarding fees has been slightly changed from K55 to K65 thousand. District Boarding Secondary School boarding fees are now at ranges of K35,000 to K40,000 and this change also applies to District and Community Day Secondary Schools that have partial boarding facilities (girls hostels)

Mrs. Lonely Magreta, said the standardization of boarding fees is a response to concerns raised by parents over the increase in the price of goods and services on the open market. She said the Ministry has therefore raised boarding fees to enable schools to run boarding facilities effectively and also to bring about uniformity in fees charged across schools as well ad improve the diet.

Now, total amount of school fees would be K35,000 for National Secondary schools, K75,000 for National Grant Aided Secondary Schools and K35,000 to K50,000 for District Secondary Schools (similarly to District and Community Day Secondary schools with girls hostels). But, fees at District and Community Day Secondary Schools will be at K10,000 while Open Day Secondary School, fees will be K12,000.

Changes In Colleges

The Secretary for Ministry of Education said Government has abolished programme of selecting Government sponsored students in all Public Universities. She therefore said all students will be required to pay amount of tuition fees  payable  for similar programmes.

Government sponsored students who were getting up keep allowance, paid K55,000 per year a lesser  tuition fees than self sponsored  students who were required  to pay K275,000 per year.  

"The previous  arrangements of having  Government  sponsored  and Self  sponsored  students was a recipe for disaffection amongst students and created  unfortunate impression  that some students  were more favoured  by Government than others." Said Magreta but noted  that Government sponsored students  who were enrolled  in Public Universities during the past  years  up to  2014 will still be eligible to receive  upkeep allowances until they complete  their studies.

She said this also applies to Domasi College of Education. She said in the case of Domasi the revision of tuition fees is aimed at bringing  about parity.

"Before  the revision, the College had Government  sponsored students who were paying  K1,500  per year for either a Diploma  or Degree course whereas  self sponsored students  were paying K180,000 for a Diploma  course  and K220,000 for a  Degree course.  The revision of fees has removed discrimination in the fee structure.

After all,  students who graduate with either diplomas or degrees from Domasi College of Education are employed in the public service on equal  terms with those who graduate with diplomas  and degrees  from other  Public Institutions of Higher Learning." She explains

"The potency of Government to provide its citizens with either heavily subsidized or virtually free secondary, tertiary and higher education is increasingly becoming less tenable in the face of a limited resource envelope and competing priorities.  This trend is not only evolving in Malawi  but also  in many  countries in  the world.

Government  has a choice of either  having   education system  which  is  under resourced and uncompetitive  or very well resourced  through the  co-sharing  of costs between  Government  and individual beneficiaries. Any well meaning Malawian will choose the latter.  That is the direction that the  Malawi  Government has taken  while at  the same time  ensuring  that needy students are not left behind in their quest for quality  education." Explains Magreta

Magreta has indicated that Students who will not be able to pay the revised fees in Secondary Schools, will continue to be assisted by Government to access bursaries. Needy students  who will be selected  to pursue courses at Domasi College of Education and those pursing courses at both  Public and Private Universities,  will  be eligible  to apply for recently  introduced Higher Education  Students’ Loans  and Grants which are being managed and administered by Higher  Education  Students’ Loans and Grants  Board.