Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) on Tuesday November 11, 2014, presented a K1.3 million cheque to Hope for the Blind which will be used to pay school fees for 10 special needs students.

This was done as part of Corporate Social Responsibility.

The fees covers the 2014/2015 school year and the students will also get K10, 000 pocket money each per term.

The students are all in Form 1 and learning at Mzimba, Namitete, Lilongwe Girls, Ngabu and Stella Maris Secondary Schools.

During the presentation ceremony held at Stella Maris Secondary School in Blantyre, MRA’s Deputy Commissioner General, Roza Mbilizi, said the Authority is nurturing responsible citizens through support to students in need.

“We will be paying your fees up to Form 4 and I would like to encourage you to work hard in class so that you excel and become productive citizens to ably contribute to the development of Malawi,” said Mbilizi.

She further said MRA is committed to continue paying fees to the students if they are selected to Government universities.

Hope for the Blind Executive Director Hastings Bwande expressed his gratitude to MRA for the support stressing that special needs students have potential to become what they want in life.

Speaking on behalf of the schools, Stella Maris Headmistress Catherine Chikadza said MRA has taken a good initiative to provide the fees since most of the special needs students have challenges to source fees as they either come from rural areas or their parents have challenges to raise school fees.

She encouraged both MRA and Hope for the Blind to continue with the support saying one of the special needs students at the school managed to score 13 points in the previous MSCE exams.