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NYDA supports free education

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The National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) has lambasted those criticising the announcement by President Jacob Zuma of free university education for students from poor and working class backgrounds.

The youth agency is currently on a road show in the Eastern Cape, encouraging matriculants who passed their matric to apply at tertiary institutions, and those who failed to rewrite.

NYDA Chairperson Sifiso Mtsweni says free tertiary education is long overdue in this country.

“The time for free education is now, government can afford it. Government has been providing NSFAS for many years. We are simply saying take that NSFAS and turn it into a grant and not necessarily a loan because in any case the repayments of NSFAS have always been around 4%.  Rather take NSFAS and make it a grant for the first years. Increase the threshold from 122 000 to 350 000 per family income because that would then cover 90% of families in this country.”

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