A Malawian Court has ruled in favour of reintroducing a controversial higher education admissions system that obliges universities to enroll students according to district quotas rather than straight merit. Disgruntled students have vowed to appeal against the judgment.

The system, first introduced by autocratic former President Hastings Kamuzu Banda, was outlawed in 1993 by the country's High Court. The ban was repeated by the same bench in 2008, following a legal challenge against another bid to reintroduce it.

Despite the rulings, the government last year indicated it would introduce the system from 1 January, prompting two students - Innocent Longwe and Wilfred Mkochi - to launch another legal challenge.

The University of Malawi, the country's oldest higher education institution, was the respondent. Besides outlawing the system, Longwe and Mkochi wanted the court to bar the university from releasing the results of a recent student selection using the quota system.

The students lost the action but have since indicated they will appeal against the verdict in the country's highest court, the Supreme Court.

Under the system the Malawian government calls Equitable Access to University Education, students are selected based on the district they come from. The policy is aimed at discouraging a trend under the merit system that saw Malawians from the north entering higher education in greater numbers than their compatriots from the south.

This time the system has been widened to include secondary schools - a stepping stone to higher education.

A copy of the judgment, made available to University World News, shows that High Court Judge Joseph Manyungwa dismissed the case on two main grounds: suppression of vital information by the applicants and lodging papers outside the stipulated time.

The judge also ruled the quota system should operate during the Supreme Court appeal. "The applicants are guilty of failing to file an application for judicial review within three months," read part of the judgment.

Following its victory in court, the University of Malawi immediately released results of the quota system selection. "This year's selection was done using the equitable system of selecting candidates to public institutions of higher learning. Under this policy, the top 10 candidates from each district were offered places," it said in a statement.

The quota system, supported by President Bingu wa Mutharika, has divided Malawians along tribal and ethnic lines. Earlier this month. clergymen petitioned Wa Mutharika against the system but a planned demonstration was foiled by the police.

The clerics argued that access to higher education should rather be improved by building more schools and universities in Malawi. They also complained that some of their members had been persecuted by the government for their position on quotas.

A top politician and former ally of the president, Harry Mkandawire, was expelled from the governing party after he wrote an open letter to newspapers criticising wa Mutharika's position on quotas. He was later arrested for alleged sedition in a move critics interpreted as punishment.


Printable version
Email to a friend
Comment on this article

Disclaimer: All reader responses posted on this site are those of the reader ONLY and NOT those of University World News or Higher Education Web Publishing, their associated trademarks, websites and services. University World News or Higher Education Web Publishing does not necessarily endorse, support, sanction, encourage, verify or agree with any comments, opinions or statements or other content provided by readers.