NEHAWU welcomes decision to settle NSFAS students historic debts

24 March 2019

The National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union [NEHAWU] welcomes the announcement by the Minister Higher Education and Training, Honourable Naledi Pandor, to allocate R967 million to settle the historic debt owned by students through the National Student Financial Aid Scheme [NSFAS].

The allocated funds will be directed to more than 52 000 students who were registered with NSFAS prior to 2018 who had to fork out of their own pockets to cover the shortfall from the NSFAS allocation. The new funding model will not require students to fund part of their fees through family or own funding, instead, NSFAS pays institutions of higher learning directly for accommodation, food and transportation costs for students.

As NEHAWU, we commend the department for listening to the cries of students who have been excluded from academic activities because of historic debt. The national union views this move as a step towards eliminating the financial exclusion of students who are in the main are from working class and poor background.

While we welcome this intervention by the department we continue to hold a strong view that we need a thorough discussion on the NSFAS model characterised by management and policies orientated to a loan scheme system which is a complete contradiction to free education subsidiary scheme. As NEHAWU, we will intensify our call for the governing party to implement its resolutions on higher education as a matter of urgency.

Working hand in hand with our strategic ally the South African Students Congress [SASCO] we will step up our call for the ANC and the State President in particular post the National General Elections to convene a national summit on education along the overarching vision of the South African society on education not as a rhetoric but as a yardstick to measure progress registered thus far.

Issued by Khaya Xaba, Media Liaison Officer, NEHAWU, 24 March 2019