Two Zambian state universities have been shut indefinitely following a week of protests over stipend allowances at the institutions.
Students at the Lusaka-based University of Zambia and Copperbelt University in the Copperbelt region wanted an increase in meal allowances, citing rising cost of leaving.
Police were sent in Wednesday night to quell the protests at the University of Zambia resulting in running battles before the minister of higher education, Dr Michael Kaingu, announced the closure of the institutions of higher learning.
The students were ordered to leave the campus within 24 hours.
At the Copperbelt University located in the Copperbelt Province students were also forced out of campus by police in riot gear after protests.
Dr Kaingu said he was forced to close the institutions due to “criminal behaviour of the students”.
“Regrettably, the disturbances at the two universities have been driven by known opposition elements seeking to extract political gain out of the ongoing chaos,” he said.
The issue has raised concern over government’s priority towards the two state universities and the rights of students to air their grievances.
Zambia president Edgar Lungu, currently at the Vatican, urged his minister of higher education to “keep them [students] away for now”.
A private-daily, The Post, quoted the Head of State refusing to speculate if the riots were “politically motivated”.
Zambia’s management of state universities have for several years come under scrutiny as they continued suffering from inadequate funding, poor infrastructure and over enrolments.
Zambia has an estimated population of 15 million people and recently added a number of public universities to the list which few were now operational.
