The problem with NSFAS

FORMER president JG Zuma announced shortly before the end of his tenure as the president of the country that the government would provide free tertiary education to all those from previously disadvantaged communities.

At the time South Africans were all excited; this was the best thing any government could do for its citizens. But the person who would be left to deal with the nitty-gritty of where the money would come from, and how to make the whole plan sustainable over the years, was his successor.

The magnitude of this undertaking was not properly interrogated. The assumption was that anyone with a university-entry matric certificate could proceed to register for a degree. No thought was given to the fact that there are other options that were not so demanding cognitively as some degrees but they could offer a student a fair chance of gainful employment.

The result was that many university students spent as much as five years without passing all the modules, some going home emptyhanded, others only bringing home babies to show for the many years they spent at university.

No plans were put in place to avoid this unnecessary waste of time and money that could be better used on serious students determined to better their lives. Today, the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) is proving to be a project from hell, with more problems than solutions.

And no one knows what the future holds for the many prospective students who have their sights set on becoming university students one day.

President Cyril Ramaphosa can give himself a pat on the back for doing thorough research and consultation on the feasibility of the National Health Insurance and universal healthcare coverage, otherwise he would soon find himself in an untenable situation.