Higher Health improving, protecting SA’s student life
Improving and protecting the health and well-being of South African students will go a long way to improving the country’s economic fortunes.
This is the firm belief held by the Higher Health (HH) chief executive officer (CEO), Prof Ramneek Ahluwalia.
In a recent interview with the Public Sector Manager (PSM) magazine, he reflected on the gains government has made in the sector as well as the road that lies ahead.
HH is a national agency that seeks to inspire the success of two million students at the country’s 26 universities, 50 technical and vocational training colleges (TVET) and nine community education and training colleges (CET). It seeks to reduce the effect of healthrelated conditions that often challenge students in tertiary studies and which have the potential to lead to students delaying the completion and even abandoning their studies.
He accepted that while much had been done to protect the various student groups, challenges remain.
“What is happening in the global world is also happening in our economy in South Africa. These are big challenges that impact any institution. We are not far away. If the global economy goes down, then our funds are reduced because we get a lot of financial support from foreign donors, like the European Union and World Bank. These are big partners to Higher Health. They want to support the youth of this country,” explained Prof Ahluwalia.
If growth doesn’t happen, he conceded, then targets could not be fulfilled. Contextualising this, he said it was important for South Africa, a country with the median age of 27, to build resilience amongst its youth.
GBVF
One of Higher Health’s most important programmes was that on gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF), aimed at curbing the scourge on South African campuses.
“Our department (Higher Education and Training) became the first ever government department in Africa to take the bold decision to put up an entire policy on GBVF. Yes, policy is just one word but it is pushing every institution through Higher Health to put investments and programmes to tackle this menace to society” he said.
To bolster its efforts, the agency in 2021 established the GBV Technical Task Team, chaired by the University of South Africa vice chancellor, Prof Puleng LenkaBula. It includes stakeholders such as the National Prosecuting
Authority, the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, the South African Police Service, survivors, medical researchers, and student councils, among others.
“They come together and help us technically build the right procedural guidelines, minimum standards that each institution should follow religiously,” he said.
This includes how to prevent cases of GBVF on campuses, highlighting a journey of a survivor - from being sexually violated to reporting, accessing health and legal services, as well as statement of a complainant.
“The days are gone where we’d ask the victim (student) to go report cases at a police station. The question is: how do we bring in the police to work together in bringing justice for the individual,” he explained.
Similarly, Higher Health has a dedicated programme that focusses on the community needs of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/ questioning, intersex, asexual and many other gender and sexual identities (LGBTIQIA+). The agency is understood to be the first institution on the continent to do a study on the challenges and violations faced by the LGBTQIA+ community.
“Issues such as exposure to HIV, drugs and alcohol, and sexual abuse…We are tackling every issue. Our focus is around civic rights, and protecting this community's rights. While protecting these rights, the other concerns will be automatically resolved. That is what the whole programme is geared towards,” he added.
The agency, he said, also provides extensive programmes for people living with disabilities. In this regard, Higher Health had set an ambitious target of increasing higher education and the skills economy access to this vulnerable group.
“Secondly, the standardised reasonable accommodation should be applied in the lecture venues, residences, and in the workplace.
“We are focused on individualised one-on-one services for students by students. Statistics South Africa (StatsSA) says 6% of our entire population lives with some form of disability. That’s a huge population that we need to protect,” the professor told PSM.
Global accredited qualification
Key to HH’s future success is the initiation of the first ever global accredited qualification - through the Quality Council for Trades & Occupations - for every young person in South Africa.
The envisioned NQF 5 qualification will include modules on civic education on GBVF, equality, diversity, mental health, climate change, drug and alcohol abuse, and building resilience, and HIV/sexual abuse. It will also cover soft skills of the workplace such as conflict management, empathy, leadership, and digital literacy.
“All will be taught within 300 notional hour,” he said.
Ahluwalia believes the agency has had a significant impact on the lives of students.
“Our programmes are student-centric and youth-friendly. We are growing because they believe in us. If you don’t have your client believing in you, nobody will. Even though we are a government entity, at the end of the day, students are our beneficiaries and anything we do needs to meet their expectations. If we do that, every institution will buy into it,” he concluded. ❖