SACP WELCOMES THE ANNOUNCEMENTS BY MINISTER OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND TRAINING
The SACP notes and welcomes pronouncements made today by the Minister of Higher Education, Cde Blade Nzimande in his budget vote speech in Parliament.
The SACP is particularly happy with the commitment to re-open former colleges of education in the Provinces of Mpumalanga, Eastern Cape and Kwa-Zulu Natal which will focus on teacher training for foundation phase. We are equally appreciative of the efforts to establish MEDUNSA as a standalone health sciences university. Government must proceed with speed though in that breath to establish a fully-fledged health sciences faculty in Limpopo for training of health professionals.
The SACP welcomes the increase in allocations for NSFAS. We are looking forward to a fuller engagement with the report of the task team established to explore modalities for the introduction of free education for all.
The allocation towards infrastructure especially for historically disadvantaged universities is an investment that is much welcomed. There is a need however for the Ministry to engage with a growing trend where universities are more and more run along commercial lines. Vice Chancellors see themselves as CEO's who run corporates and therefore developmental role of universities is lost along the way.
As government re-opens further education and training colleges, it is worth noting that it was the drive for capitalist profitability and the heart of a neo-liberal philosophy that sought to move economic activity away from productive sectors of the economy and encouraged closure of technical and vocational education training centers. This ideological strand is now trying to claim space in the process to redefine the role of Technical and Vocational Education and Training in our developmental agenda. Working with the trade union movement and community organisations the SACP pledges to campaign hard to free the training space from the stranglehold of the human capital theory, essentially a neo-liberal paradigm. We need a concerted effort to turn these centers to respond to the values of our revolution to advance our society as a whole.
The SACP pledges to campaign further in the turn around of our post schooling landscape. Our commitment is to make available post schooling opportunities to all South Africans irrespective of race, class, gender, age and disability.
Once again Cde Nzimande has demonstrated the necessary courage to drive transformation of higher education and training to embrace the poor and working class in the budget speech today - for that the SACP welcomes this speech.
Statement issued by the SACP, April 24 2012
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