Zuma claims free education

EX-LEADER: HE WAS NOT IMPRESSED WITH HEHER COMMISSION’S OUTCOMES AND ‘HAD TO ACT’

Additional funding of R7.2m allocated for 2018 to fund poor and working class pupils.

Former president Jacob Zuma has slammed the ANC and the country for taking more than two decades to implement free higher education. Zuma’s free higher education announcement was effectively his last major announcement before his departure as president.

His unexpected announcement in December during the party’s elective conference at Nasrec, near Soweto in Johannesburg, was welcomed by many, though analysts had concerns that South Africa would struggle to fund free tertiary education.

Also, the concern raised at the time was that his move was a cynical ploy on his part to create a legacy for himself and place pressure on the ANC to elect his former wife Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.

Delivering a lecture at Umlazi, on the east coast of KwaZulu-Natal, on Thursday night, Zuma said his concern was that he had made the decision “three years too late”.

“Why did we take over 20 years before we implemented it [free higher education]?” he asked.

“Free education had been guaranteed in the Freedom Charter decades earlier.”

He said his decision was aimed at breaking the cycle of deserving black matriculants being unable to continue to study at university or college, due to a lack of funding.

Zuma pointed out that by prioritising the education of poor black students, the government would be reversing the apartheid ideology of keeping black people as subservient providers of manual labour alone.

His decision went against the recommendations of the Heher Commission of Inquiry into higher education. He explained that he had been unimpressed with the commission’s final report, which focused too heavily on viewing education as a business transaction and not as a social good or a force for transformation.

This week, Higher Education and Training Minister Naledi Pandor said progress had been made to ensure the new bursary scheme was implemented successfully.

As a result, additional government funding of R7.166 billion had been allocated for this year, to fund bursaries for children of poor and working class families entering universities and Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) colleges.

A total of R4.581 billion is set aside for qualifying university students and R2.585 billion for TVET students.

Free higher education is currently available to first-time entry students from families with a gross combined yearly income of up to R350 000.

Pandor said what had changed following the announcement was that government would support poor and working class students through an expanded bursary scheme, which replaces the previous loan and partial bursary scheme.

She said: “Although first time entering students will not be expected to pay back the cost of their bursaries, they will be expected to meet certain conditions and expectations, including those relating to satisfactory academic performance and service conditions.

“The exact details are being finalised. I am pleased to announce that good progress has been made since the announcement to ensure that the new bursary scheme is implemented successfully.”

Pandor said that for TVET colleges, students in all years of study would receive a bursary to cover their tuition fee and learning materials.

The TVET students will need to meet certain requirements to qualify – the R350 000 combined

Free education is guaranteed in Freedom Charter.

income and they are registered for the national certificate (vocational) and Report 191 programmes at any public TVET college.

Pandor said the increase in funding for 2018/19 would support 458 875 students to receive tuition bursaries. Based on historical data and the enrolment targets for 2018/19, it is estimated that more than 90% of TVET college students will benefit.

“In addition, enrolled TVET college students who meet the requirements for travel and/or accommodation and meals will also be supported for this,” she said. “Approximately 50 480 TVET college students will qualify for accommodation and food, and a further 82 600 will qualify for transport allowances.

Pandor said in the case of universities, the full bursaries cost for poor and working class students was being phased in from this year, starting with first-time entry students from South African families with a combined annual income of up to R350 000. – Citizen reporter