Musankwa Makwamba’s Death Should Ignite Bursary Reforms

By Kelvin Esiasa

The Late Nelson Mandela said Education is the most powerful weapon which one can use to change the world. While the World Bank states that education was a powerful driver of development and one of the strongest instruments for reducing poverty and improving health, gender equality, peace, and stability.

Education is one of the most important investments a country can make in its people and its future. Education is critical to reducing poverty and inequality.

The importance of education is undeniable for every single person. It goes without saying that education has a positive effect on human life. Education plays such a rudimentary role on our society that we cannot even imagine a life without it. Education is a determined element for the civilization of human society. Not only does it helps us develop healthy surroundings but it also generates an advance community. As a matter of fact, everything we create today is based on the knowledge that we obtain throughout our life by way of education.

It has also been described that education is a key to success. There are so many people who can testify today that education has enabled them to reach where they reach. Others may say education has made them who they are.

So I would like to join many Zambians who are mourning the demise of Musankwa Makwamba. Musankwa’s death is very traumatizing. I feel pity for the family and the suicide anguish that the family had gone through.

It is very sad that a brilliant girl has gone too soon. It’s sad that the future of Zambia has gone in pain. It’s sad that the young lady could not see herself surviving in life without having her degree from the University of Zambia.

According to the media Musankwa Makwamba, 19-year-old girl committed suicide after being denied a bursary to study at the University of Zambia. Musanka Makwamba took her life by taking two bottles of insecticide. The media reported that Makwamba committed suicide because she was frustrated and upset with decision of the bursary committee for not giving her bursary.

Recently in my weekly blog I appeared to the government to overhaul the bursary committee so that it could be able to support all young people that wish to study in Zambia regardless of the learning institution. I vehemently said that there was need to overhaul the Bursary committee in order for it to start accepting bursary application from other Universities and colleges either public or Private.

So Makwamba’s death is heartbreaking for Zambia. It’s sad to hear that a young girl committed suicide because she could not get the financial support from government.  Of course none of us Zambians including myself condone suicide. The committing of suicide is not condoned in any society. But it is important for us to sympathize and appreciate the frustration that the school leavers under go through just for them to get the bursary. Obvious Makwamba died out of frustration.

Even if Makwamba is not here to explain her suicide, I believe her death is a clear frustration that schools leavers are going through. It is also a clear indication that school leavers take education seriously and consider financial support as a priority in advancement of their education. Her death is also a clear indication that school leavers were frustrated and were no longer optimistic about their education.

Furthermore, School leavers feel betrayed by government and society at large. They feel betrayed by the corporate world because many corporate firms do not offer scholarships to school leavers.

As the Education Minister Dr John Phiri said the death of a first year student over bursary was a wakeup call to the ministry and the University of Zambia. In deed this is a wakeup call to many of us in Zambia that many young people are frustrated with challenges of Life.

Makwamba’s death also reminds me of many young people who cry for financial support just to attain professional education. There are many young people in this country that are in need of financial support. Colleagues in the education sectors would testify how school leavers flock from office to office to search for financial support for education.  There is a huge demand for financial support among school leavers of which the current bursary committee could not handle.

In conclusion, I would like to support the Minister of Education for emphasizing the need to turn the Bursary committee into a loan board.  Government should also take this opportunity to reform the education sector. Government should embark on education reforms that were aimed at ensuring that every school leaver attains University Education. Education reforms that would ensure that all school leavers access bursary or financial aid regardless of the learning institution they were studying at.

Government should also call for a stakeholder meeting where all institution of higher learning in Zambia would be invited to discuss matters concerning the bursary scheme in Zambia.

Although Makwamba’s death is painful, government should learn from this experience and use it as lesson to reform the bursary committee. As it is said let this phase not repeat itself.

Kelvin Esiasa  – President for Zambian Society for Public Administration and Society for Family                            Business

Posted by Kunda on October 15, 2014. Filed under LATEST NEWS. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.