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(NYASATIMES) Petition to President Mutharika on quota system

Petition to President Mutharika on quota system
By Nyasa Times
Published: January 2, 2010

The Church of Central Africa Presbyterian (CCAP), Synod of Livingstonia (hereinafter referred to as the Synod), dates back to 1875 with the arrival of Scottish missionaries. The Synod believes in openness, mutual trust, respect and true love as it carries out its mandate. It strives to reach out to all the people with the message of hope and love in this world of disorder, moral decay and political turmoil. Apart from evangelical work, it provides education, health and relief services to people, regardless of faith affiliation, that fall under its jurisdiction.

The Synod recognizes that education is a good force that develops human qualities, intelligence, talents and conscience for satisfaction of physical, social, economic and spiritual needs. Thus, education has the potential to lift citizens out of their poverty and increases their capacity to participate in the development process. Through this inherent power, education is an important tool for development.

The Synod also recognises that good governance and respect for the rule of law are critical to the political, economic and social development of a country. Accordingly, the Synod has the moral responsibility of speaking on matters that threaten the well-being of the voiceless and the marginalized.

Our Concerns

The Synod realizes that Malawi is currently grappling to address a number of national issues like fuel and forex shortage, the quota system and the devastating effects of earthquakes in Karonga and some parts of Chitipa. While concerted efforts have been registered on helping victims of the earthquakes, the quota system of selecting students into public learning institutions seem to be getting entrenched. Government’s resolve is evident from its communication dated 3rd September 2009 from the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology. This marked an official declaration putting quota system back into play irrespective of its illegality as challenged in 1993 country courts.

While the Synod’s stand on the quota system had already been clearly stated and communicated through a press statement, we are startled that the practice has been extended to the selection of pupils into secondary schools at the expense of the merit system. We are reliably informed that 2009 initial Form One selection was based on merit as had been the case in the past. However, that selection was discarded on instructions from ‘above’ in order to accommodate the quota system. This, unfortunately, has resulted into glaring disparities in the allocation of spaces in national secondary schools between and among the country’s three regions.

Concerned with this development and other issues, the Synod held an emergency meeting at Ekwendeni on 30th December 2009. The meeting critically reflected on the issues and made a number of observations.

The Synod is surprised and concerned that the government is blatantly misinforming the general public that the Synod boycotted the interdenominational prayers for earthquake victims held in Blantyre. The truth of the matter is that our representative, Rev. Maurice Munthali, was rejected by State House for undisclosed reasons. The Synod views such government machinations as irresponsible.
The Synod reiterates and reifies its position of opposing the quota system of selecting students into public learning institutions; including secondary schools as has been the case with this year’s Form One selection. Without fear of repetition, the Synod fails to appreciate the reintroduction of the quota system on the following grounds:
Quota system was outlawed in 1993
The Synod of Livingstonia believes that it is out of question to reintroduce the system or policy when it was successfully outlawed in 1993 when Charles Mhango, Ambokire Salimu, William Kaunda and Christopher Chilenga successfully challenged it in the High Court of Malawi. Its reintroduction and implementation is, therefore, a contempt of court.

Quota system is not a solution to challenges in the education sector
The education sector in Malawi experiences numerous challenges like high pupil-teacher ratio, shortage of qualified teachers, low teacher motivation, inadequate teaching and learning materials, poor and inadequate infrastructure. Unfortunately, proponents of the quota system fail to appreciate these challenges as root causes of disparities but instead dwell on petty and divisive statistics. The Synod expected that the Government of Malawi would focus its energies on addressing these root causes by, say, building more schools and universities. The Synod appreciates that the aforementioned challenges need to be addressed through some ‘affirmative action’ but certainly not through the quota system.


Quota system is discriminatory
The quota system contradicts various international human rights instruments that the Malawi Government has ratified. Such instruments recognize the right to education as inherent and empowering. These instruments place an obligation on states to provide equitable access to education for ALL without discrimination. For instance, article 2 of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights; article 2 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1979); and article 2 of African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights all expressly prohibit any form of discrimination based on national, ethnic or social origin. The World Declaration on Education (1990), and the UNESCO Convention against Discrimination in Education (1962) are also unequivocal on the same. The same is provided for in the Republican Constitution under sections 20 and 25.

The Livingstonia Synod acknowledges that government has an obligation of protecting its entire people from any form of discrimination and taking positive action to promote their rights. On the contrary, the quota system is discriminatory in that selection into public learning institutions is based on ethnicity and social origin. The CCAP Synod of Livingstonia feels that the policy is only aimed at suffocating the voice and capabilities of a minority group of similar and cultural roots. Unfortunately, the President has often referred to the North as a minority group in terms of population (12% of national population), and that it only contributes about 20% of the national GDP. Such assertions only qualify the north as a distinct region, hence not wrong to call people from the north a minority group. On this basis, the quota system also defeats the objects of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious or Linguistic Minorities (adopted on 18th December, 1992 under Article 5 Sec 1 Resolution 47/135). The Declaration calls for the state ‘to plan and implement national policies and programmes with due regard for the legitimate interests of persons belonging to minorities’. The Malawi government is far from fulfilling this obligation by virtue of not listening to the concerns from northerners and other quarters. After all, the test of democracy lies in listening to the voices of the minorities.

Quota system and the principle of equitable access
The quota system in secondary schools and tertiary education as a principle of equity raises more questions than answers. The Synod wonders if the quota system really ensures equitable access when only 13.2% of pupils from the north have been selected to national secondary schools versus 41.58% and 45.39% from the central and southern regions. Refer to the appendix.

Quota system is root for divisions
Identifying people by district or region of origin becomes inconceivable since such discriminatory policies have the potential to breed resentment and hatred among different groups of people, considering that Malawi is a multiethnic nation with numerous intermarriages. The world has proved not to benefit from such discriminatory policies in any way as witnessed by conflicts in countries like Sri-Lanka, Sierra Leone, Malaysia and Rwanda whose genesis bordered on discriminatory policies that were a quota system of some kind. It is with such a background that the Synod of Livingstonia views the quota system as not in any way promoting values of nationhood. Rather, it leaves an impression of having ill motives as it institutionalizes ethnic and regional differences.

Quota system will compromise the quality of education
The quota system has silent assumptions like similar demographic factors amongst districts, similar conditions that learners are subjected to at home and at school as well as similar performance and capacity of learners. It also assumes equal distribution of educational facilities amongst districts. On the contrary, Malawi’s education system is merit-based as seen by the administration of the same exams to all the learners at each level regardless of the varying conditions on the ground that learners are subjected to. The Synod fears that the quota system will compromise the very purpose examinations serve, separating less able students from more able students, a role that quota system cannot play. After all, there is anecdotal evidence that the Ministry of Education has concocted grades to suit the whims of the proponents of the quota system. Such concoctions may have led to the selection of pupils into secondary schools of mediocre performers at the expense of meritorious pupils.

Quota system is not applicable to Malawi
Implementation of the quota system is far from being an affirmative action. The Synod recognizes that the quota system is being implemented in European countries but not in the SADC region. Where the quota system is applied, it is aimed at balancing the rich and the poor and not based on population or place of origin. The quota system should not be compared to the affirmative action applied to girls in accessing higher education in Malawi which addresses the root causes of the cultural perceptions that people have over girls in education.

Quota system is a betrayal to the people of Malawi
The DPP government was voted into power based on its election manifesto that espouses unity and justice, among other issues. The manifesto is silent on such divisive policies like the quota system. On that basis, Malawians, including the people from the north, overwhelmingly voted for the DPP. It is unthinkable, therefore, that the President keeps on lashing at northerners and antagonizing them with fellow Malawians from the central and southern regions. This defeats what the president preaches that we are all Malawians when he publicly categorizes people from the north. The president has also labeled northerners as academic cheats in his ‘Kucheza ndi a Malawi’ programme. The Synod considers such unsubstantiated statements as irresponsible and demeaning to the office of the president.

Recommendations

The Synod, therefore, recommends the following to his Excellency the State President and the Government of Malawi:


The quota system should not be implemented at any cost considering the aforementioned reasons and challenges. Accordingly, the Synod does not recognise this year’s Form One selection. We would like, therefore, to appeal to government to annul the selection results and that students should not report for classes until the issue is reversed, at least in national secondary schools;
The disparities in accessing secondary school and higher education as pointed out by the proponents of this policy, including the government, are mere symptoms of a problem. The government should, therefore, address the root causes of such disparities, not its symptoms.
The Government should work towards formulating policies that unify the people considering that Malawi is a multiethnic nation.
Government should at all times consult people on critical issues that affect their lives, including on the policy on ‘equitable access to higher education’.
The Government should respect the rule of law and not pursue undemocratic, oppressive and discriminatory ideologies like the quota system.
The government should not single out individuals on decisions made by the Synod. A case in point is the recent attacks on the personality of the Moderator of the Synod, Rev. Mezuwa Banda, and the Deputy General Secretary, Rev. Maurice Munthali, who have often spoken on behalf of the Synod on national issues, including the controversial quota system.

Labels: BINGU WA MUTHARIKA, EDUCATION

posted by MrK @ 10:52 AM