Government officials bang heads over reopening of colleges

Minister of Education Agnes NyaLonje says with Covid-19 cases increasing daily, the necessary skill set required to fight the pandemic may at some point fall short and not be enough if drastic positive decisions are not made by the Ministry she heads. She gave an example of nurses, doctors, technology experts, laboratory technicians, research scientists and researchers as among other skills that are crucial if Malawi is to manage and win the fight against the pandemic. “We must challenge ourselves to take bold decisions. All high skilled frontline labour is affected by the pandemic and we might run short of those skills soon,” said NyaLonje. She gave an example of Daeyang Luke University which was only two weeks away from graduating a fresh cohort of nurses and other medical staff and also College of Medicine that was only eight weeks away from graduating doctors and other specialists when schools were closed in March.