Poly Closure: Personal Views

The issue in the air in as far as tertiary education in the country is concerned is that of the closure of the Polytechnic; a constituent college of the University of Malawi. There has been a lot of reaction to the issue, subjective and objective alike and I just had to give my own comment on this.

When I first heard that the Wadiyans were demonstrating just some 3 days after the arrival of continuing students my best guess was that the demonstration was money related. Everybody who is following the issue now knows that my instincts were right and the demonstrations started because of fees and upkeep allowance issues.

From what I gather, the administration wanted to deduct some money from the upkeep and redirect the same towards the payment of fees (I stand to be corrected) but that is not too important if we are to go by what this post is about. What is of the paramount importance is that the issue was about money, as I had correctly surmised upon hearing that some intellectuals had blocked the Highway.

Some might wonder as to why I immediately though of money as the etiologic agent of the demonstration. Well. It is not that much of rocket science. Pretty much every kodo kodo I have witnessed from the Polytechnic came out of money issues; be it the book allowance (popularly known as SACCO) or school fees. This, to everyone who reasons objectively should beg the questioon as to what or most importantly who is causing this whole thing. Is it the spirit of entitlement and impatience on the students part? Should the blaming finger point to the administration?

As a believer in something called contact and dialogue, I would point my blaming fingers (we always need to find someone to blame) on both the students and the administration; and for a good reason.

I will be referring to what I have heard about this situation because I believe all the others were no different. According to inside sources, when the communication was made about the fees arrangement, the students called for an audience with the administration and that was not granted till the students decided to take it to the highway. One would question the administration as to why they did not grant the much needed audience to the students and the students as to why they could not wait a little longer before taking it to the streets and ruining it for themselves.

Away from the students and the administration,  I think this problem is coming from the way we as a country are financing our tertiary education. The modifications that are coming in the payment of school fees, provision of food and accommodation and book allowances are more of a curse than a blessing and if not addressed will continue to be a breeding ground for unrest in the public colleges and universities.

People might hate me for saying this but our tertiary education is too affordable and almost free. At the same time, intellectuals are supposed to be getting an amount almost equal to the yearly fees almost every month in the name of food and accommodation and as if that is not senseless enough some people have found ways of making the process even tougher to run on both the students and administrators' end. The end result is what we are seeing now; an unnecessary overlap between issues of fees and those of accommodation and meal allowances which in the old days were in a way unrelated.

This to me beg the question as to whether we as a country prematurely made the move to privatize the provision of food and accommodation in the public universities. It also makes me wonder as to whether reverting to the old system (if at all it is possible) would make things better or just worse.

I am told that we now have the National Council of Higher Education which is "reforming" the country's higher education system. Whoever is heading that thing (council, right?) should look at this as something that needs resolving otherwise we have for long applied a temporary solution (like closing colleges as if they are some hardware shop) to a permanent problem. If the financing and fees issues are not resolved, next thing you will hear is that the College of Medicine and then Chancellor College followed by Bunda and Mzuzu University are also in the streets.

To my fellow intellectuals? Patience helps. Let us accept the reality of where we are and try to be as patient as we can. On the other hand, if it becomes too much we have the option of a peaceful demonstration which does not equal to blocking roads and disturbing innocent passers by.

Someone who was selling airtime around Ginnery Corner was affected by teargas and had an early knock off. Do you know what that meant to his personal life?

Information and Communication Technology; Blessing or Curse?

As I write this, this Sunday happens to be communications Sunday in the Catholic church. For those who do not know, I am a Catholic and each and every last Sunday of the month of July Catholics all over the world reflect upon communication.

Among other things, on this communications Sunday the Pope chooses a theme that people need to reflect on. I usually do not pay much attention to these communication Sundays so the only theme I remember from the previous years was that of using modern technology to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ. Something worth thinking about for the "Android Generation".

The reason I am writing this, however is to echo the theme that Pope Francis chose this year. This year the Pontif appealed to all the Catholic faithful (and I am extending it to everyone) that we need to reflect on communication in the family.

So, why communication in the family? Well. This is simple.

As I pointed out, we are in a generation in which smartphones are no longer a luxury and this has simplified communication to an extent that some of us would think that communication has been over simplified. What this has done is that it has made everyone get the applications of their choice in a bid to make communication more fun and above that cheaper.

All about this communication is, by definition all nice but it has not come without any repercussions. The negative element of this has come up in that it has taken away the personal element to communication.

To illustrate what I mean, I will cite an example of something that you might be able to identify with. It is not strange to see a group of people who claim to be chatting all busy with their phones texting someone who is on a far end of whatever network they are using.

The problem with this? Well. What it implies is that at the end of the day people communicate well when they are doing it over the tablet or smartphone than when they are in the same physical proximity. Already it shows that there is a flipping in the roles of communication because ideally technology is meant to be a means to an end in that it should be used to bring people together so that they can interact meaningfully when they are in close proximity. The modern generation has turned the internet and its applications to be the end in itself and the family has not been spared of this chaos.

This is what gives the Pope's words credible, relevant and worth echoing. Communication breakdowns that arise from an overuse of technology to communicate (with someone far when there is someone in close proximity) could be a potential threat to marriages across the world. Of note is that this threat includes but is not limited to the family. Friendships and other relationships are also endangered with this attitude the modern generation has towards communication.

The Holy Father started the show, so I will give it my own tailor made finish. It is high time we all realized that human to human interaction is the best mode of communication which surpassed all technology. We need to rise above this thing of never leaving our phones to rest in our pockets when we are with a group of people. This habit is getting out of hand and people have rendered it normal. The issue is that something does not become good because a lot of people are doing it.

Albert Einstein once said that he feared for the day when technology surpassed human interaction. I am not sure if this generation wants to be the one to make Einstein more than what he was (Theoretical physicist) to a prophet.

Technology is good with proper use, but an overdose thereof will be a danger to the society.

She who has ears, let her hear.

Post script
As we reflect on communication in families, let us extend this to little couple called relationships. Most of them are nowadays disbanding due to lack of communication. This is something that can have an easy and reasonable fix.

He who has ears let him hear this.