Note to Editors: The following remarks were delivered by RISE Mzansi National Assembly Caucus Whip, Makashule Gana MP, during the debate on Budget Vote 17 (Higher Education and Training).
Presiding Officer
Committee Chair
Minister and Deputy Minister
Dyondzo I xitlhangu. South Africans want to learn, acquire skills, get jobs and break the cycle of poverty. Therefore, the country’s higher education system needs some fundamental reforms to work to address these issues.
I want to highlight few important components of the higher education system, namely: admission; the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) and the accommodation challenges.
Holobye, at this moment there is a young girl in Giyani being raised by her single mother and currently doing matric. She has plans to go to university next year. She is a brilliant learner. She wants to be a doctor. She wants to contribute to her community and her family; help her mother and her siblings. She knows that she will pass but is unsure whether she will be accepted to pursue her studies owing to the limited space.
The space constraint extends beyond the health faculties. It is hard to even find space at a TVET college. Capable young people who want to pursue their studies are being frustrated, there are losing hope and resort to a life of drugs and criminality. This afternoon you and the budget did not speak to this young person and her parents.
Being accepted to university has become a rare commodity.
Are we working to resolve the challenges the higher education sector faces? For a student that is currently enrolled at a university or TVET and has been waiting for their allowance from NSFAS are they comforted by your speech?
With every change that is introduced by NSFAS, they disadvantage the students. The only people benefitting from NSFAS changes are service providers.
Student accommodation has become unaffordable for many students. The prices that parents are expected to pay for student accommodation are just too exorbitant. In some instances, students pay R4500 to share a room. There is something that must be done in this market. Is NSFAS the driver or enabler? Should we just sit back and say it is market forces of supply and demand? At what point do we have to say that the market forces need to be moderated?
The work of the Department and its budget must at the very least address these emergencies.
Ndza khensa!