Financial aid recipients need close monitoring

THE dilemma that faced the government, as it did Minister of Finance Malusi Gigaba, to make good on former president Jacob Zuma’s hasty announcement that tertiary education for the poor would be government sponsored, is that if this promise was not made good on, it would have had serious repercussions for the ruling party.

This consideration was noble, all things considered.

However, the financial constraints and implementation of such an act, in my view, were not well thought through.

The budgetary implications have to be severe in the long term and safeguards must be put in place to ensure that recipients of such aid must not view this simply as a handout or an entitlement.

It must be remembered that it is not the government that is helping these indigent students but the tax-paying public of South Africa.

To this end, it must be assistance afforded across the board without any racial bias or favour to any particular racial group as there are people of every hue who suffer economical desperation.

In this regard, strict and enforceable encumbrances must bind these students to repay what the people have graciously afforded them.

Firstly, they must be contracted as bursars with the caveat that on completion of their studies and upon securing employment, they must repay their obligation, so that other similar deserving students could be assisted, thereby reducing the burden on the taxpayer.

Mechanisms must be put in place so that no bursar will be able to escape such an obligation.

Secondly, it must be an express condition that should they fail an academic year of study, the following year’s financial obligation is for their account and not the people’s obligation, notwithstanding the fact that they are still duty-bound to repay what has been previously afforded to them.

Frivolous and vexatious excuses for failure or non-performance must be closely scrutinised and acted upon accordingly.

And thirdly, mechanisms must be in put in place to monitor the performance of these bursars throughout the academic year to ensure that the people’s investment is not going to waste.

This is important, noting that not all who receive such assistance will be genuinely interested or committed in furthering their studies and many will see this as an opportunity to “enjoy” life for gratuitous pleasure.

While education is a vital pillar upon which the success of any nation rests, and accepting the fact many of our brethren are financially impotent to pay for tertiary education, any assistance given must be bound by a reciprocal responsibility that can have a domino effect that will benefit future generations, who will be equally in need. NARENDH GANESH Durban North