Student association calls community college initiative ‘cheap politics’

Technical Students Association of Malawi (Tesam) has quashed government’s community colleges initiative, saying it is cheap politics.

In minutes signed by Tesam President Billy Kachedwa, of a meeting held on November 8, 2014 at Salima Technical College, the association expressed dissatisfaction with government’s community technical colleges’ initiative because of its politicization.

The meeting discussed the impact of community technical colleges introduced in the country and members were of the view that the project would not contribute positively to national development, the minutes read.

“Government is failing to improve standards of education in existing colleges which are poorly funded,” added the minutes.  “It is, therefore, doubtful if the community college initiative will be successful.”

Tesam said it planned to liaise with Pres Peter Mutharika on the matter.

Other issues discussed at the meeting included lack of qualified staff in the colleges and harmonization of certificates. Tesam wants graduates from all technical colleges in Malawi to have one kind of certificate for easy filtration into the job industry.