Minister of Finance, Chithyola Banda has announced that the allowances for students in public institution of higher learning has been adjusted to K560 000 from K350,000, representing 60%.
This development has come after the minister acted on the directive president Dr Lazarus Chakwera made three weeks ago to adjust student’s upkeep.
Chithyola made this announcement in the parliament during his response to concerns raised by opposition parties and the parliamentary cluster committees.
The response come after Zomba Central Member of Parliament Mcnice Abu Naliwa urged the government to reform the student loans system to make it more inclusive and accessible to underprivileged students.
Chakwera made the directive on three weeks during the launch of the university innovation pod at the Malawi University of Business and Applied sciences (MUBAS).
In his speech president Chakwera outlined that, apart from revising university student’s loans, the body together with the minister of Finance and education should also revise the allowance of the students.
Stakeholders such as PRISAM commended the president saying this will assist so many students in need of support whose parents cannot afford.
President for PRISAM Dr Ernest Kaonga said their body has been providing support to needy students from secondary schools and universities
“our body receives so many letters from students seeking school fees, currently we adopted students from secondary and universities who have no support and we applaud the president because many students will be able to access education once their loans are revised”, he said.
