Chairperson and the leadership of South African Union of Students (SAUS), it gives me great pleasure for me to be invited to this session to address you. As you know I have been in office for just under two weeks, this occasion is my first public engagement since my appointment. It shows the importance I attach to the student movement in my ministry.
One of the things I have been doing during since my appointment is to re-familiarise myself in great detail with the higher education landscape. As much as I am aware of the higher education policy framework which, by the way, was developed during my tenure in parliament about ten years ago, I needed to reacquaint myself in detail with numerous developments that have occurred since I left the formal education sector some ten years ago.
In this regard, my officials in the ministry have been helpful in updating me on these developments. However, an important part of this process is engagement with stakeholders in higher education, of which students form an important constituent element. I am therefore happy and privileged that I am given an opportunity of engaging with students in these early days of being in office.
Let me congratulate SAUS on its establishment three years ago.
Students have historically played an important role in the education sector. Starting as far back the 1960s, student structures were instrumental in and later played a crucial role in the struggle against apartheid education.
When the extension of university education Act of 1959, which entrenched apartheid education in universities, in the line with the separate development policy of apartheid, thereby barring the admission of black people in universities, students were amongst those stakeholders that played a key role in opposing this policy. The 1976 uprisings would not have happened had it not been of their role and leadership in education.
The anti-apartheid struggles of the 1980s which led to the introduction of the state of emergency in 1985 and 86 respectively, would not have been what they were, without the role of students.
The key issue that sustained student activism was the level of debates that took place amongst student organisations and student governance structures. Students Representative Councils (SRCs) played a crucial role in tracking national developments that informed agendas at institutions. Slogans such as “an injury to one is an injury to all”, “there can be no normal education in an abnormal society”, became the mantra of the day. SRCs played a key role in providing leadership to students on campus as well as defining a programme of action that was linked to issues of national interest.
The post 1994 era has presented student organisations, structures and leadership, and indeed all former anti-apartheid organisations with a challenge of defining a new agenda for themselves that is responsive to the current realities.
In the first five years of our democracy, which was characterised by the development of policy framework and legislation, students played an important role shaping the development of new policies and laws. There was a clear student voice in the whole policy development process, and their voice could not be ignored.
The question you may ask is “what gave the student voice legitimacy and recognition?” Two things were crucial here: Firstly the calibre of leadership in student structures and their formations, which was able to link issues affecting students at institutional level with national policy development initiatives, was crucial during this period. Similarly, student organisations at the time had policy research development units which informed the policy positions that students placed at the policy development forums. Students were thus able to read the signs that unless you have well research policy positions, you would never be taken seriously. In so doing, students were able to gain the legitimacy and recognition that they deserve.
Today we are in the era of policy implementation.
This period poses significant challenges for many student formations and governance structures. With the newly democratically elected government in office, and the adoption of policies under the leadership of our new government, there seem to have been a vacuum in terms of issues which student organisations and governance structures needed to pursue.
The apparent lack of a clear agenda that captures the imagination of students has contributed to the lack of interest by many students in student activism and politics. This period also experienced a change in the profile of students coming into higher education who had different values from their predecessors.
From available evidence, student leaders in higher education institutions have been unable to excite their fellow students based on the low turn out in student SRC elections. This issue of apathy among students, I would submit, remains a major challenge for both the student organisations operating on campuses and SRCs in particular.
As a union of SRCs, you need to ask yourselves the following questions: to what extent have you put in place, initiatives and programmes that respond to the needs of the diverse student population with diverse ideological persuasions and interests?
Similarly, to what extent are your programmes speaking to the development of student life within higher education in the context of the current societal and institutional realities?
What practical initiatives have you implemented to raise awareness on issues of such as racism, sexism, violence, classism, ethnicity and xenophobia which are endemic in our higher education system according to the recent report of the Ministerial Committee on transformation and social cohesion?
To what extent do the SAUS and its affiliate SRC structures foster debate and the generation of research and ideas to inform its programmes?
If SAUS is to be a force to be reckoned within higher education, it cannot afford to ignore these questions.
These days, there has also been a challenge of accountability amongst SRCs especially in terms of their mandates and practices. Examples of this range from a culture of intolerance and unwillingness to accept the outcomes of SRC elections and some SRCs not using allocated resources in an accountable manner. I hope that SAUS will assist its affiliate structures to overcome some of these weaknesses that undermine confidence in student leadership. In this regard, there is clearly a need to strengthen programmes that support SRCs and the student leaders in particular to understand their roles and fiduciary responsibilities to their fellow students and the public at large. My department will continue to support SAUS and SRCs in this regard.
To this end, I wish to thank SAUS for the role you played in supporting and promoting voter education among students and youth in our recently held national elections. Working with my department, the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) and Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), you were able to host two successful voter education events in the Eastern Cape and Limpopo. Working together we can do more.
You have also asked me to speak on a number of issues which are pertinent to the future of higher education. In particular you asked me to speak on why the spilt in higher education? I know that there have been speculations and questions were raised about the merits of having two ministries. The decision to split was based on the pragmatic approach to improve service delivery. This is an unambiguous resolution adopted at the 52nd Congress of the African National Congress held in Polokwane in 2007.
Similarly, we wish to bring education and training closer so as to respond to the needs of our society and growing economy.
Current challenges of higher education
There has been some progress made in higher education in line with the priorities identified in higher education White Paper three. These include the fact that we have the majority of our people constituting the majority of higher education students in our system. The enrolment patters indicate that blacks increased from 47% in 1993 to 75% in 2007. Similarly the funding of higher education has more than doubled during the same period. We have put in place a reputable National Financial Aid Scheme (NASFAS) that has facilitated the access of many young poor South Africans to higher education.
In moving forward we need to build on some of the successes of the past 15 years. In this regard, you should be aware of the fact that access to higher education has not necessarily translated into success of those who enter higher education. The success and throughput rate, especially of black students leaves much to be desired and this is one priority area to be addressed.
It is also problematic that student success and throughput rates are not generally below the benchmark set in the National Plan for Higher Education. Likewise, the participation rate of black students of the age cohort of between 18 and 24 years is still far below our expectations. We must find ways of improving the current situation.
There are other challenges, such as the demands placed on and the manner of operation of the NSFAS which has necessitated the review of this scheme. I hope the review of this scheme will assist us in addressing these matters. I hope that the review of NSFAS will assist us to find ways in which we can establish a new scheme or expand NSFAS to become a bursary and not just a loan scheme for students enrolled for the first degree. We hope that the review will further provide us with useful information in our quest to implement free education at undergraduate level.
The recently released report of the Ministerial Committee of Transformation and Social Cohesion in Higher Education has highlighted some issues that will also need our urgent attention over the next five years. These include the need to transform institutional cultures of some higher education institutions to make them a home for all South Africans, to make sure that the policy that outlaws initiation practices in higher education is enforced and those that transgress this policy meet their due punishment.
There is a need to mobilise more resources for higher education to make sure we recruit and retain a new generation of scholars, to use these additional resources to support academic development that would lead to better throughput rate. I will need the support and co-operation of structures such as SAUS to assist us in supporting our quest to improve our throughput rate in higher education. While government will play its role in mobilising extra resources to support student academic development, students also need to play their role in making sure that they study hard and complete their studies within stipulated period for. I am therefore calling on you as SAUS to join government in the quest to deliver on the identified key priority areas. Working together, we can do more.
I thank you
Source: Department of Education (http://www.education.gov.za)
