Roundup: Namibian students camp outside administration in tuition debt protest

Hundreds of students at the University of Namibia main campus in Windhoek who owe the institution money in fees spent Tuesday night camping outside the administration block.

The university barred indebted students from taking examinations that were scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday until they pay at least 50 percent or the full amount.

This sparked a peaceful demonstration Monday that resulted in the postponement of the examinations, which were supposed to end on Nov. 11.

With 12 campuses across the country and more than 19,000 students, the University of Namibia is the largest higher education institution in the country.

It is not clear how many students still owe money to the university, though some media reports put the figure at 13, 000 out of the 19, 000 currently enrolled.

The university's spokesperson John Haufiku said the students owe the institute 145 million Namibian dollars (10.5 million U.S. dollars).

Demonstration also spread to the Hifikepunye Pohamba Campus at Ongwediva, about 700 kilometers north of Windhoek, where students tore examination timetables Tuesday demanding their peers be allowed to attend exams.

Tuesday night's vigil came after efforts by the students representative council failed to convince the higher education minister Iita Kandjii-Murangi to allow those who still owe money to take exams.

Kandjii-Murangi, who met the students' leaders and the management Tuesday, said those who owe money must just pay.

In the past, the university would allow the students to sit for the exams and then withhold the results until the students settle their debts.

Haufiku, however, said the university informed the students' council in July that this would not be the case this year.

Part of the notice put up by the university management urged students to pay before Oct. 18 when the exams were due to start.

The notice further said student fees form an integral part of any university's budget, as governments cannot subsidize tertiary institutions in full.

It also said student debt increases pressure on the university to fulfill its services and commitment to staff and students.

"The student debt of University of Namibia," the notice said, "has increased significantly during 2016 as a result of the decision to register students without applying the normal payment requirements at registration. As a result of this, the university has significant shortfalls in its 2016 budget."

Haufiku said it costs the university 70,000 Namibian dollars to see one student through a year and that the government contributes 53, 000 Namibian dollars.

In January, students at both the University of Namibia and Namibia University of Science and Technology demonstrated against registration fees, thereby forcing the institutions to allow them to enroll for free.

President Hage Geingob then suggested that Namibia should move away from a study loan system, whereby students have to pay back loans, to a grant system that will enable students to, after graduation, immediately build up wealth portfolios instead of graduating into debt.

Kandjii-Murangi, however, said that the government was not phasing out the loan arrangement and that there was nothing like free tertiary education.

"It must be known that higher education is partly government's responsibility but it is also of the parents of those who access tertiary education. So both parties should meet each other halfway and assist those who qualify," Kandjii-Murangi said. Endit