Higher Education Minister Naledi Pandor says there is a need to find a new model to fund education in the country. She says the country’s faltering economy is deterring the education sector from fulfilling its mandate to empower students.
Pandor has been addressing the National Executive Committee of the South African Union of Student’s Induction and Strategic Workshop in Johannesburg.
“We are implementing the new Student Financial Aid model and you would be aware that we have had particular challenges with the NSFAS. So my interventions have been to improve the system and I believe we will and ensure that it is able to serve the needs of students. It is unacceptable that student allowances are paid seven months into the year. It is not just right.”
The South African Union of Students (SAUS) has called on the board of the student funding body, NSFAS to be dissolved. SAUS says the financial aid scheme has failed many students. SAUS also says that the Higher Education sector lacks transformation.
“The failure of them to implement the central student model has failed, NSFAS has failed. There are people who are sitting for seven months without meal allowances. On the system the department told us it is piloting it. There was no success,” says SAUS Secretary General, Lwandile Mtsolo.
WATCH RELATED VIDEO BELOW:
