MALAWI: Catholic Secondary Schools Fees Up in Malawi
Francis Polinyu Banda
The Episcopal Conference of Malawi (ECM), headquarters of the Catholic Church in Malawi, has raised school fees for all its supported secondary Schools.
The hike has seen school fees raised from K200,000.00 (approx.$189) to K230,000.00 ($217) beginning September 2023 when schools open in the 2023-2024 school calendar.
According to the letter ECM has released on Monday, July 17 and copied to the Ministry of Education and all its Catholic education institutions, the decision has been reached following the economic hardships the schools are experiencing due to the volatility of the country’s economy.
The letter further says the Catholic bishops reached a consensus on the hike at its June 2023 annual plenary meeting through the Bishop Chairman for Education right Archbishop Thomas Luke Msusa, following concerns raised by headteachers of the schools.
“Headteachers of our assisted secondary schools have expressed concern that they are facing enormous challenges to keep the schools running”, reads part of the letter. It says the fees include the contributions for the operations of the Catholic Education Commission offices and boarding per term.
“This is a modest increase in the face of the high cost of living the citizenry is experiencing, and the conference has an obligation to ensure that”, adds the letter.
Speaking in an interview Tuesday, Archbishop Msusa says much of the increase was necessitated because of the high cost of foodstuffs for boarding students. Bishop Msusa was quick to say that the church is aware that there are some parents and guardians who will find it difficult to support their children and wards but there is nothing they can do to help needy ones.
“This increase has been effected because of the high cost of food stuffs for boarding students. As a Church, there is nothing we can do about this, and the way commodity prices are on the market we also feel like our hike is fair as compared to other boarding secondary schools. In the past we used to be supported by donors but most of them are now saying that this is the responsibility of government to educate its citizens,” he said. He said some lucky students in these schools get help from individual priests and well-wishers whose source funding support from donors.
So far Most Rev. Msusa, who is also the Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Blantyre says he is helping a number of students in different secondary schools with a little support he gets from well-wishers.
The ECM has since asked relevant authorities to communicate the message to all its secondary school headteachers and respective catholic dioceses for them to pass on the information to parents and guardians before the first term begins in September.
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