Eastern Cape Premier, Lubabalo Oscar Mabuyane, has thrown a lifeline to financially struggling Eastern Cape university students, by contributing R50 million towards their registration and historic debts in provincially based universities.
The fund will prioritise students from the Eastern Cape who have not received registration fees from NSFAS but qualify for them, those who study agriculture, science, technology, ICT, engineering, and those who completed their studies last year but cannot graduate. At least 55% of the students who will benefit from the money are women.
The amount will be shared among the four universities in the province, namely, Fort Hare, Nelson Mandela, Rhodes, and Walter Sisulu, according to their financial status and enrolment figures.
The Provincial Government has crafted a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to be signed by all these institutions to ensure fairness in the distribution of the money.
The clauses in the MoU commit the institutions to ensure students funded are from across the province and study in the province. The institutions will also be expected to submit a report to the Provincial Government on all students assisted and their circumstances.
“It is critical that these students be supported to graduate to boost their opportunities to enter the world of work,” Mabuyane said.
“Young people must be given access to higher education to improve their skills levels and provide them with greater access to break the cycle of poverty in the province. This will propel us towards building the Eastern Cape we want.”
To this end, the Provincial Government also awards bursaries, scholarships, internships and learnerships to young people,” said Mabuyane.
Since the start of the current academic year, students have embarked on numerous protest actions over financial exclusions. This is partly because of the poor background of most students in the province, and the fact that all historically disadvantaged universities remain underfunded and do not have the funds available to write off the debt of students.
Mabuyane called on businesses, NGOs, and individuals to also assist these students and contribute towards ensuring the doors of learning are opened to all students in the province.
