Malawi: The Competition and Fair Trading Commission (CFTC) has urged the educational institutions to not charge extra examination fees. The officials have warned that strict action will be taken against organizations who demand extra money from students
The issue is most glaringly seen in foreign examinations that are conducted within the country. The examinations help the students get international exposure and gives them the platform to explore international opportunities.
Public Relations Officer for CFTC, Innocent Helema informed the media about the issue. He said the Commission had noted with concern that some education institutions were charging additional money for students who are writing foreign exams.
“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.
Helema disclosed 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 percent of the respondents or company’s annual turnover,” he said.
He added that 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; we shall take measures against any educational institution that unfairly subject students to such unwanted practices,” he said.
Lexon Mandala, an education expert 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.