Students act over scrapped meal allowances

Zambian students have approached parliament and are resolved to go to court if government does not reverse its decision to scrap meal allowances, a move they say is unlawful.

Earlier this month, Zambia’s Minister of Higher Education, Professor Nkandu Luo, announced that meal allowances would be phased out beginning with the 2019 first-year intake of students whose loans will not include the allowances.

Luo said the decision was meant to spread the loan scheme more widely to benefit more universities, including Kwame Nkrumah University, Chalimbana, Mukuba, Mulungushi and Palabana universities. In the past, scholarships and loans were only allocated to two institutions, namely the University of Zambia and the Copperbelt University. These institutions also provided meal allowances.

The minister said the government would strictly limit its loan support for tuition fees and accommodation and these would be paid directly to the institutions in which students enrolled. The money for books and projects would be paid directly to the students.

Luo said 30% of loans would be reserved for rural areas, 30% for women, 10% for those with disabilities, while the rest of the students would compete for the remaining 30%.

Students fight back

In a telephone interview with University World News, Zambia National Students Union (ZANASU) President Misheck Kakonde said the union was engaging parliament and could not rule out litigation if the government did not reinstate the allowance.

In a prepared statement ZANASU said it regrets the government’s unilateral decision to remove provision of meal allowances to students in public universities without first seeking the repeal of the law by parliament regarding that provision.

“But the nation is also aware that the decision to extend loans to 1,000 students at Palabana University, Chalimbana University, Mulungushi University, Mukuba University and Kwame Nkrumah University was announced on 3 January 2019 by Ministry of Higher Education Public Relations Officer Chiselwa Kawanda, who said the extension was necessitated by loan recoveries the ministry had been undertaking from September last year.

“So it is patently false that the decision to abolish meal allowances is the one that will make government extend provision of loans to other institutions,” said the statement.

A student’s view

Laston Lifuke Muyenga, a fourth-year student in adult education and extension studies at the University of Zambia, told University World News the government’s removal of meal allowances will bring many hardships to students.

Muyenga said prospective students from poor families will shun university education due to inadequate support.

“Seventy five percent of students from the University of Zambia are from poor families and many are from villages or remote towns; pupils work hard to make it to university so the government should sponsor them, but this scrapping of meal allowances will discourage more from coming to university,” he said.

Muyenga said the government did not consult students and parents before taking the decision.

“The meal allowance is in the laws of Zambia, so the only people able to remove the allowance is parliament, not a mere person, minister or cabinet,” he said.

“Government has to reverse or reconsider the decision and return the meal allowance for students. My other advice is: let the minister of higher education visit universities and hear the students cry, if she is really a listening leader.

“A great leader has to hear the people she or he represents, not make decisions for them; that is dictatorship,” he said.