Polytechnic students takes protest online, storm President Banda’s official FB page

Students at the Polytechnic of the University of Malawi have taken another dimension in their protest following the indefinite closure of their college after a standoff between the staff of the University that has affected them and the University Council.

According to information sourced, the University Council promised the staff of the University a 25% salary hike only for them to make a u-turn claiming that government has no money. The development has not gone well with the staff of the University who have since gone on an indefinite strike.

The fruits of the strike started appearing with The Polytechnic where students were supposed to resume their studies on September 30 when they were told to not report for classes until further notice. In the footsteps of The Polytechnic, came in Kamuzu College of Nursing (KCN) whose students were also told the same: that they should not report for classes until further notice. Chancellor College staff, not to be outsmarted, also joined in by simply withholding the results of the end of year for their students.

However, bearing in mind that they cannot take to the streets owing to geographical constraints, the students have resorted to a new strategy of protesting against the closure of the College. The students have now taken to online media to protest the closure and urge authorities to open their College.

Operating under the hashtag #OpenPolytechnic, the students have taken to both Facebook and twitter to call on authorities to open the College.

In an attempt to leave no stone unturned, the students have stormed the official Facebook page of the country’s President who is also the Chancellor of the University with the same message and under the same hashtag.

President Banda has been accused of treating public University students with some contempt after he snubbed graduation ceremonies for Mzuzu University and the University of Malawi yet managed to attend an Adventist University graduation which was graduating a smaller number when compared to the other public Universities in their respective graduations.