* This is bad for our education and it is acting as a barrier for our students to access good education
* If the institutions are found guilty of such malpractice, they will be fined up to 10% of the respondents or company’s annual turnover
By Benedicto Maguda, MANA
The Competition and Fair Trading Commission (CFTC) has warned educational institutions who are demanding extra money from students who are writing international examinations.
In an interview yesterday with Malawi News Agency (MANA), CFTC public relations officer, Innocent Helema said the Commission had noted with concern that some education institutions were charging additional money for students who are registering for their foreign exams.
Innocent Helema
“We have discovered that some schools are demanding students to pay extra amount when they are registering for examinations on behalf of the foreign examinations board despite being already paid in full.
“This is bad for our education and it is acting as a barrier for our students to access good education,” he said, while disclosing that they found out that there were a number of students who were affected by such malpractice.
“Last time we checked, there were actually about 200 students that were affected. If the institutions are found guilty of such malpractice, they will be fined up to 10% of the respondents or company’s annual turnover.”
He further said they also found out that schools that are administering foreign examinations, also set up tight dateline for payment of examination fees: “We are, therefore requesting the institutions to give enough time to students for the payment of the fees.
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“We shall take measures against any educational institution that unfairly subject students to such unwanted practices,” he said.
Education expert, Lexon Mandala says it is not fair for such institutions to charge extra money on the fees that has already been paid as such behaviour compromise education in Malawi.
“If such institutions foresee that there shall be challenges in transacting foreign fees, it is good to put the actual amount rather than charging them extra because this has a possibility to make others to fail to write examinations because of the extra money,” he said.
The Competition and Fair Trading Commission (CFTC) was established under the Competition and Fair Trading Act of 1998 with a mandate to regulate, monitor, control and prevent acts or behaviours which would adversely affect competition and fair trading in Malawi.
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