Students have taken to social media to call for the re-opening of applications for the National Students Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS).
The students, organised under the hashtag #OpenNSFAS, have started an online petition that wants President Cyril Ramaphosa and Minister of Higher Education, Blade Nzimande to intervene.
They have been posting their individual experiences about being accepted at institutions of higher learning, while they lack funding.
“We have been assisting students in our personal capacity from different institutions with late registrations, with walk-ins and they would now call and say I have been accepted at this institution but I do not have funding. I understand as well that NSFAS was open for a good 3 months but it still excludes a lot of people. And I mean if you are going to allow people to apply in January and February, surely the logic should be that also funding should be made available for those people,” says Phiwaba Madokwe, petition organiser.
Madokwe adds that they will be consolidating the list of signatures on Monday before sending the petition to the Presidency.
“We needed the conversation being driven on social media because that is where conversations about things that affect the country are held and our target was that we are able to get traction on Sunday Twitter, which has happened. We’re trending but the trending is not just to trend but to see what the general feel is. We have a lot of people that say I am also experiencing this thing. So we are waiting for it to get as many signatures by the end of today so that we can send it to the presidency,” says Madokwe.
Meanwhile, NSFAS spokesperson Kagisho Mamabolo has referred queries regarding the petition to the Higher Education Ministry.
#PotsoTseRelevant What is the point of allowing late applications at universities if NSFAS will not open the late applications window for 2020? #OpenNSFAS
— #OpenNSFAS ‼️ (@n_asemahle) January 19, 2020
Weren’t applications open for 3 months?? How you gonna handle submitting 2 assignments and writing 2 tests in one day??#OpenNSFAS
— Palesa_R (@palesarakhoadi1) January 20, 2020
Rules & regulations are there for the benefit of deserving hardworking SAs hungry for education. I DO NOT SUPPORT THIS #OpenNSFAS hashtag. @myNSFAS shouldn’t succumb to this irresponsible behavior.
— Aaron Moloisi (@aaronmoloisi) January 20, 2020
For what? You had your chance to apply. NSFAS had an extensive outreach programme last year and people had a chance. I feel for the people in the rural areas but it is what it is. #OpenNSFAS
— Intombi yomuntu ? (@khwezi_ngema) January 19, 2020
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