CPUT STRIKES AGAIN OVER THE LACK OF FUNDS FROM THE NATIONAL
STUDENT FINANCIAL AID SCHEME
It is no undisclosed matter that the
National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) lacks funds. It was estimated in
2013 by the former acting CEO at NSFAS Nathan Johnstone that NSFAS needs to triple its budget in
order to cater for all the students who require financial assistance. A lot of
students’ dreams were however shattered this year after they were financially
excluded by the NSFAS.
This is why at
the dawn of August 6 2015, Pan Africanist Student Movement of Azania (PASMA)
members were preparing for a strike over the lack of funds in the NSFAS on the
Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) Cape Town campus and Bellville
campus
This was the
second strike in one year the CPUT institution has had regarding the lack of
funds of NSFAS. The first strike transpired in February 2015 at the Bellville
campus where tens of students were arrested and severely injured.
According to the
Department of Higher Education (2015) 4 378 students at the University of
Johannesburg were excluded from NSFAS. These were returning students and those
applying for the first time who met the NSFAS requirements. Institutions
including the Tshwane University of Technology, Vaal University of Technology,
University of KwaZulu-Natal and the CPUT were amongst the institutions with the
highest number of students who were excluded by the NSFAS.
The strike began
in Cape Town, were students were chanting and forcing their way into lecture
rooms. Once they were able to force their way in, they sang to the top of their
voices and threatened everyone to leave and not attend any more classes. The
striking students vowed students who refuse to leave will be dealt with
physically. The fuming students then relocated to the Bellville campus to
mobilize more students to join them.
The mentality
the striking students have is that, if one student is affected, then the rest
of the students are affected. However this is not true in this case as some
students claimed they are not students of the NFAS and are either funding their
fees themselves, or by financial support from parents or by bursaries and the
strike was depriving them of their basic right to education.
According to the
South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) there have been protests at 10
universities against the government-sponsored NSFAS after fees were not paid.
Yandisa, an irritated
second year ND Accounting said: I’m upraised by a single parent who has worked
hard for me to enter varsity. She has been saving my entire life so I can get a
decent higher education. It was not easy but she did it! I spoke to my mother
over the phone and she is also pissed of what is happening. This is unfair on
the rest of us. Not all of us are on NSFAS! Those of us who are not on NSFAS should
not be deprived of their right to education.
A lecture who
wished to remain anonymous said: If the students really want to be successful
in their march they need to go to the Administration and NSFAS offices and
close them down. Marching in and out of
classes will only last for an hour after two hours things will go back to
normal and the so-called ‘strike’ will not be effective.
"The money
is not enough to fund everybody. There are various opportunities that the door
of education and training has opened. There are artisan opportunities. Also now
in further education and training colleges, we are also funding students for
that. There are a lot of initiatives to make sure we reduce the number of youth
that are doing nothing. This is not the only place for youth to be skilled and
to be employable in the economy." (Msulwa Daca, 2014)
According to the
CPUT Vice- Chancellor, Dr Prins Nevhutalu, about 2 300 students could not be funded
in 2015 due to a NSFAS shortfall of about R 73 million. The CEO of the
institution has indicated that he is hard at work fundraising to supplement the
shortfall and any successful attempts would be made available to students. The
university is also making its own appeals to donors in an attempt to assist
needy students. Management also raised this funding concern to the
Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Higher Education during their visit to
CPUT.
Although there
was an increase in the NSFAS budget from R1.561-billion in 2010/11 to the
current R4.094-billion more funds are needed drastically.
According to the
Department of High Education in 2011 there were 937 455 university students, of
whom 216 874 received NSFAS funding. In 2011 there were approximately 650 000
FET college students, of whom 114 968 received NSFAS funding. NSFAS assisted
over 400 000 students at universities and FET colleges throughout the country
in 2013. Since 2009, when NSFAS provided loans and bursaries to 191 040
students, the numbers have more than doubled. With the number of students who
depend on NSFAS increasing annually, was it not foreseen that there would be
financial problems?
Ayanda Malangeni,
a young upcoming scientist said: NSFAS is not consistent. They accepted me in my first year because I
could not afford to pay for my tuition fees but in my second year they reject
my application as if I suddenly got richer. Where do they think I suddenly got
funds to cover my tuition fees? The worst part is the fact that I got told in
July that I am one of the thousands of students who got excluded. All sorts of
funding have already closed in July for this year. Where am I supposed to get
funding for this year? This is affecting me emotionally, for example I can’t
even concentrate fully in class because I know regardless of how well I person
academically, I will not receive my results at the end of the semester due to
my fees not being paid up.
To find out what
the LSRC of the CPUT Cape Town campus had to say about the matter, the Finance
Officer was interviewed.
Question: How many
students from CPUT have been excluded due to finances?
Answer: Only 2300
students are affected by this NSFAS matter.Tthat number includes Bellville and
Cape Town. Other campuses are funded by certain departments from the Government
level like the Health Department for students in Athlone and Education
Department for Mowbray students.
Question: What effect has the lack of funds by NSFAS had on
CPUT?
Answer: This has consistently shown a very negative
impact and effect on potential students who had the abilities to advance their
studies.
Question: Is there
no possible way the institution could help needy students?
Answer: There are
various ways the institution could approach to meet students half way, such as:
·
Faculty
bursaries being awarded to not only academically deserving students, but to also academically improving students
so that a culture of motivating students to always aim high and do better is
created.
·
SRC
bursary - as we have seen so far that the student leadership has been
compromising a portion of its budget to accommodate students. This has proven
to be effective and helpful as many students have been able to come back to the
system of the institution.
·
Through
stakeholder relations-the institution can at this point in time persuade it's
stakeholders and partners to form a bursary scheme that will assist students
·
Tenderpreneur-
for every service provider that gets business at Cput, it will be essential for such to take
responsibility of at least ten students(2 in each faculty) and pay for their
tuition and meals for the period they will be rendering services to the
institution.. talking about millions..
·
Innovative
ideas-students through their leadership can also start their own campaign and
co-opt organisations such as "Right to learn" to come to the fore and
bring donors on board.
Question: Is the
LSRC budget still relevant?
Answer: The LSRC at this stage becomes relevant at the
beginning of the year, other than that, we witness these reps fighting over who
should provide services and whose getting what.
The NSFAS was
established by the South African Government in 1996. It was set up to ensure
that students, who have the potential, but cannot afford to fund their own
studies, will have access to funding for tertiary education, but over the
progression of time this has turned to be a different story for many. It is
funded by the government, international donors, and the private sector. With
the appointment of Sizwe Nxasana as the new chairman of the NSFAS, there are
high expectations that there will be a turnaround in the troubled multibillion
rand scheme‚ which has been dogged by corruption and mismanagement that has
resulted in many disadvantaged young people missing out on higher education
opportunities.
*NSFAS has run out
of funds apparently before they could even pay for everyone. So I have been
part of DASO and we want to help the students. We planning to have a Rally on
the 4th of September (Sizwe Mapapu)
For some
students, dreams were shuttered even before they shone. And to the majority of
the affected and infected, this has created an uncomfortable environment of not
knowing or having the hope that tuition will be paid and someone will progress
to the next level.
Some questions that remain unanswered: What is the
Department of Higher Education doing to ensure that no student gets excluded
for financial reasons from any university in South Africa? In the current
academic year, how many students have been excluded from universities as a
result of the lack of funds from NSFAS? Is it possible to cut the red tape on
bursary and scholarship awards? Will there ever be a free education system in
South Africa as in Germany? When will education stop being a debt in South
Africa?
* The promised DASO rally against the NSFAS financial issue never took place.
