R30 million to support EC university students
The Eastern Cape provincial government announced that it has allocated R30 million to help university students struggling to pay registration fees or handle their outstanding debt.
“It would be irresponsible for us to turn a blind eye to cries for help from our people wherever they are facing difficulties,” said premier Oscar Mabuyane.
“We have received numerous requests from students who must register to study and complete their qualifications and graduate in 2021.
“We have transferred R30 million to the four universities in our province (University of Fort Hare, Rhodes University, Nelson Mandela University and Walter Sisulu University) to assist students to pay their debt and be able to graduate and to pay registration fees for new students to start their first-year studies.
“Fort Hare and Walter Sisulu will get R10 million each. Nelson Mandela University and Rhodes get R5 million each.”
Mabuyane said the provincial government was aware of the statistics which showed that chances of employment for a university graduate was higher than those without degrees.
As a result, they would be assisting students as part of their skills development strategy in order to register students, help them to graduate, receive their qualifications and then apply for jobs.
The provincial government was also investigating ways to assist TVET colleges.
“Education is a societal matter and a development catalyst. Our province is in dire need of critical skills and more educated and capable citizenry for us to drive our development trajectory,” said Mabuyane.