No To Varsity, College Fees Hikes -Minister Murwira

Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development Minister Professor Amon Murwira has advised Colleges and universities not to raise tuition fees as employers have not increased salaries.

In an interview with the state-owned Herald, Prof Murwira said his Ministry would not want to cause economic commotion through random fee hikes in Colleges and Universities.

“As a ministry, we are conscious of the Government’s austerity measures and we would not randomly increase fees in colleges and universities. We do not want to be part of the problem of fuelling inflation through arbitrary fee hikes,” said Prof Murwira.

He also said Government was still committed to addressing students’ plight on fees payment and had already injected US$10 million into banks towards student loans.

“Local banks have agreed on a scheme with the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development. The scheme has seen the Ministry injecting US$10 million, as educational loans and it is almost operational. The money has been deposited with banks and it is expected to increase to US$20 million,” he said.

He said the loan facility was flexible and students would be given more time to make repayments.

-State Media