THE REMOVAL OF MEAL ALLOWANCES HAS RESULTED INTO A TREMENDOUS INCREASE OF STUDENTS WHO ARE NOW BENEFITING FROM GOVERNMENT SCHOLARSHIPS

THEmoney that Government was spending giving meal allowances to CBU and UNZA students is the same money that Government is now using to sponsor students in other Government universities and colleges.

Initially, Meal Allowances were given to only about 2000 students at CBU and UNZA annually. That money is the same money that Government is now using to sponsor over 7000 students annually from other public universities and colleges besides UNZA and CBU.

Today, students from Nkrumah, Kapasa Makasa, Chalimbana, Mulungushi, Palabana universities and many other public colleges are benefiting from government education loans using that same money which used to go to a limited number of students at UNZA and CBU as Meal allows. Even students from public colleges are now benefiting from government scholarships, thanks to the same money which was used for meal allowances. 2. BACKGROUND At inception all admitted Zambian students at UNZA were automatically put on government meal allowance which was paid to the university and students took their meals from the university Dining halls.

However, as a result of the 1980s challenges of the economic melt-down of the Zambian economy, the government faced challenges in remitting funds to the university to meet the obligations of the bursary system. Consequently the university began to face challenges in providing meal allowances to students resulting in several class boycotts. In response to this challenge the university administration proposed to government that the Bursaries committee pay the Meal allowances directly to the students and students would then buy their meals from the Dining halls through cash payments. This request was implemented and student on Government Bursary were paid their meal allowances directly and were expected to then pay for their meals when they went to the dining halls for meals.

3. MEAL ALLOWANCES, RIOTS AND THE RISING DEMAND TO SPONSOR MORE STUDENTS

The Patriotic Front Government, being a pro- poor Government committed itself to increase the number of students to sponsor at universities and colleges. To meet this goal, the PF Government abolished the bursary scheme and replaced it with the loan scheme in order to:

a) increase the number of students who are benefiting from government scholarships

b) to create a revolving fund that would act as a pool of resources to continue giving scholarships to students and to expand and extend such scholarships to students in all public universities and colleges besides UNZA and CBU.

c) To endure that all vulnerable students who deserve scholarships have a chance to get that support since the bursary scheme was very limited hence it was laced with corruption, lack of transparency and children from well- to-do families and those with political connections seemed to be the ones benefiting more than those coming from vulnerable families.

d) The meal allowance had become a trigger of students’ unrest. Every time the BC was delayed, students resorted to protests and ugly riots. 4. CONCLUSION

Though the removal of meal allowances was an emotive and quite frankly, a somewhat controversial decision, it has proved to be the best decision that Government made because it has:

a) Increased the number of students benefiting from government scholarships. Government pays Tuition Fees, Accommodation Allowances, Book Allowances as well as Project Allowances to all the students on loan schemes.

b) Instead of just giving UNZA and CBU students all the allowances including the meal allowance, Government took off money aimed for meal allowances and that same money is now being used to sponsor thousands of students in all the other government universities and colleges.

From 2011 to date, the PF Government has given loans and bursaries to about 40000 students.

This is why the decision to remove meal allowances was an excellent decision because more students are now benefiting from government loans.

NB: I wish to acknowledge the fact that some excerpts used in this article have been taken from the official UNZA publications.