Government abolishes quota system for university selection

Malawian universities have, since May, been admitting students on merit and affirmative action based on gender, disability and albinism after the controversial quota system was abolished earlier this year as part of what government claims are measures to improve overall access to tertiary education.

The quota system for university admissions was based on students’ district of origin, rather than only merit. It was first introduced by Malawi’s first president, Kamuzu Banda, in the 1960s and acted as a form of affirmative action for students from the country’s central and southern regions due to their perceived regional underrepresentation at universities.

Opposition

However, some academics, clergymen and political activists argued that it was discriminatory against the north where the minority Tumbuka are based. Malawians from the north are seen as advantaged due to the establishment by missionaries of quality schools such as the Livingstonia Mission named after Scottish explorer David Livingston.

In 2008 University World News reported that in 1993 the High Court of Malawi reversed the government’s decision to implement the policy and the courts upheld the decision in 2008 following an appeal. The court argued that the policy “was discriminatory and in violation of the fundamental right of Malawian citizens”.

In 2009 the government of the late president Bingu wa Mutharika reintroduced what it termed the “Equitable access to higher education” policy, also based on regional quotas. His brother Peter Mutharika, the incumbent president, was still enforcing it before the latest policy change.

In terms of the quota selection system, “the top 10 qualified candidates from each district are offered places and, thereafter, the rest are selected based on merit and the size of the population of the districts they originate from”.

Under the new policy, admissions are now based on merit and affirmative action based on gender, disability and albinism.

Human rights crisis

According to Amnesty International, there is a human rights crisis in Malawi as people born with albinism are being hunted for their bones and body parts in ritual murders, and the perpetrators are mostly going unpunished.

And, according to UN Women, the United Nations entity for gender equality and empowerment of women, Malawi has one of the world’s highest rates of child marriages, with half its girls married before the age of 18 and teen pregnancies contributing to 20%-30% of maternal deaths in the country.

It is argued that child marriages condemn girls to a vicious cycle of poverty as they are forced to forego education. Only 45% of girls remain in school past the 8th grade, rendering them more vulnerable to violence and forced to bear children before they are physically and mentally prepared.

In terms of access to higher education for the disabled, a 2016 World Bank study entitled Improving Higher Education in Malawi for Competitiveness in the Global Economy said a dearth of data relating to the enrolment of students with disabilities suggests that very few disabled students are enrolled in higher education institutions and the universities’ infrastructure does not cater for the needs of people living with disabilities.

Malawian universities started selecting students on merit and affirmative action based on gender, disability and albinism in May this year after government directed them to do so two months ago.

On 22 May, Malawi University of Science and Technology issued a statement saying it had selected 533 candidates for the 2020-21 academic year, 78% of whom were male and 22% female, based on the new policy.

“Selection of candidates was done on merit as per the new Malawi government policy of admitting students into public higher education institutions and the affirmative action based on gender, disability and albinism,” the statement said.

A government press statement earlier in the month said selection on merit started on 6 May after all public universities had been informed of the abolishment of the quota system, after Minister of Education, Science and Technology Dr William Susuwele-Banda first announced the decision at a press conference in late March.

At the press conference, the minister said that although the quota system was being abolished, the government would continue with an affirmative action policy towards girls and students with disabilities, and those with albinism.

“Our duty as government is to ensure that there is equitable distribution of resources including infrastructure across the country,” he said.

Presidential elections

While it was in effect, the quota system was widely criticised. Malawi’s vice president, Dr Saulos Chilima, a losing candidate in last year’s disputed May 2019 presidential elections, went so far as to describe it as “evil and satanic” and promised to scrap it if he won the election.

After the country’s Supreme Court nullified Mutharika’s election and set 23 June as the new presidential election date, Chilima told local media that President Mutharika was using the higher education issue to win votes.

However, in refuting that claim, Minister of Information, Civic Education and Communications Technology Mark Michael Botomani said the government had taken a number of measures that had necessitated the abolition of the quota system.

“Government has taken the following measures to necessitate the abolition of the quota system: a) Creation of new universities out of the University of Malawi. The new universities will increase the number of public universities from four to six and greatly increase the intake and, therefore, accord the youth access to higher education,” he said.

The minister also said the government had, through the National Council for Higher Education, accredited dozens of academic programmes in private universities. These have become an alternative for those not selected to public universities, and the country’s Higher Education Students’ Loans and Grants Board is providing support to students from both public and private universities to ensure that more students access higher education.

Alternatives to university study

The minister also said, through the construction of Community Technical Colleges and Skills Development Centres, the government had offered an alternative to those students not selected by universities. He added that with funding from the United States government, Malawi is constructing 250 secondary schools. In addition, there is a project to expand the number of Community Day Secondary Schools.

“Government would like to advise Dr Saulos Chilima that the policy shifts are the product of a long process of consultation and research taken by the government. Dr Chilima was aware of the consultative process. Further, government would like to remind Dr Chilima and the UTM [party] that [the] quota system was a national policy and not a regional policy. Finally, government would like to remind all Malawians that, in public service, the policy changes are not campaign tools as suggested by Dr Chilima and the UTM party,” said Botomani.