By KETRA KALUNGA
STUDENTS at Nkrumah University in Kabwe yesterday protested over high tuition fees and the decision by management to block portals for about 90 percent of students with balances.
The students said the K4, 085 that management is requesting despite students learning for only one month and two weeks is unreasonable and should be reduced by at least 50 percent.
A female student in the fourth year who sought anonymity said the management decision that students pay the full amount for the term which began in November and ends this month on the 10th and blocking the students’ portals for those owing is what caused the protest.
She said the accounts for students owing the university have been blocked and they cannot register courses online for the coming term which is unfair because almost 90 percent of students are not on bursary.
She added that the decision by management that only about 10 percent of students without balances access the online app for classes has incensed the 90 percent of students with balances.
“Yes, we decided to protest because our accounts have been blocked and we cannot register online because we are owing the school and it’s also about the financial statement because this term we are only learning for one month two weeks and the university has billed everyone the entire term fees,” she said.
Another male student in the fourth year said the students decided to protect management’s decision to prevent students with balances from registering their courses online which means despite attending lessons they are part of the school.
He added that management has been chasing those with balances from physically attending classes and only attending to those who had cleared their balances, which was unfair.
The students have also rejected the newly appointed students’ union, accusing management of imposing leaders on them because they removed the preferred contestants from the list on the pretext that they failed to settle balances.
Meanwhile, university Registrar Polity Chilombe
Mr. Chilombe who confirmed that there was some noise said the situation has normalised.
He explained that students were demanding reduction in tuition and accommodation fees for the returning students (2nd to 4th year) given that the academic term is short about 8/9 weeks from the initial 13 weeks.
Mr. Chilombe explained that this does not affect the first year students as they have been on campus from September 2021.
He said students were also demanding to be allowed to register without a cap on the allowable fees.
“That is the owing student (who have been writing commitment letters of allowing them to write examinations and pay by time results are out and before the next registration for the next academic year). Our fees per term stand at K4, 000 and 50 percent is K2, 000,” Mr. Chilombe said.
