MZIMBA-(MaraviPost)-Malawi Speaker of National Assembly who is also Member of Parliament (MP) for Mzimba North East Constituency, Catherine Gotani Hara, has bemoaned use of quota system of selecting students to both secondary and tertiary schools arguing that is killing the hard working spirit among learners in the Northern Region.
Speaking on Tuesday when she was launching a Quiz Competion and Primary School Best Performers Awards at Ekwendeni Community Day Secondary School in Mzimba North, Gotani Hara, observed that not only does quota system kill the hard working spirit among the learners.
The speaker added that the system also reduces their chances to compete equally with students from other regions.
“If you check the statistics, the number of students that are going to national secondary in my constituency is dwindling instead of it going up. Most of the students are just ending up in community day secondary schools which are not as equipped as national secondary schools. Then it means we are putting them at a disadvantage. So, we want government to abolish this system and consider those that have done well because it’s like you’re demotivating somebody who has performed beautifully and has all it takes to do better in secondary schools and university,” she said.
Hara went on to say besides the MK2.5 million quiz and Primary School best performers’ awards, she will also introduce a MK3 million bursary to benefit less privileged students selected to secondary schools every year.
In his remarks, Head teacher for Ekwendeni Community Day Secondary School, who is also the Coordinator of the quiz competition,Kennedy Longwe, said the competition will go a long way in encouraging the learners to study hard and do better during national examinations.
“In the first place, this competition is going to encourage our students because when they are part of it, they will go back to their books and read hard so that they do well in this competition. But at the same time, the competition will encourage the other students to say if I work hard, I will be part of the team next time and in the end we will have the whole school working hard and do well in the national exams,” Longwe said.
About eight secondary schools will battle it out for MK1.5 million while MK1 million will be up for grab for primary schools in the constituency.
At the end of four month competition, the winning school will cart home MK280,000 richer and the runners up will get MK180,000 while all the participating schools will be awarded MK40,000.
Much as the quota system has an impact of demoralising the hardworking student there is a need to balance up the access to these scanty public institutions.
I see conflicting policies being championed as long as one anticipates an advantage from it in the name of rights.