Durban - The National Teachers Union (Natu) is calling for a new funding model to be developed by the incoming National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS).
Natu’s deputy president and spokesperson, Allen Thompson, added that they are also calling for the constitution of a new board to effectively deal with the issue of free education in the higher education sector.
Thompson said they support the move made by Minister of Higher Education, Naledi Pandor, to appoint a new NSFAS administrator by this week.
“We have full confidence in the minister’s ability to appoint capable and competent people to lead the fund so that it fulfils the expectations of the Freedom Charter to provide free education for the poor,” Thompson said.
He said Pandor’s competency when she led the department left the union confident that she would appoint a people who would come up with a new funding model for students, now that there is a new policy shift to offer free education on a wider scale.
“The current model has been invalidated by this policy shift, as it was based on a different target recipient, based on an unrealistically low family income threshold. Now there is a huge demand and expectation for funding after the pronouncement by former President Jacob Zuma that the poor will get free education,” he said.
Thompson added that once the administrator has been appointed the current board must be dissolved and a new one put in place.
"It will not be reasonable for the incoming administrator to work with the current board. He or she must be surrounded by a competent group of experts to expedite the design and operationalisation of the new funding model. Even before the announcement by former President Zuma, the fund was experiencing huge problems, epitomised by a huge backlog of unpaid deserving students, going back to 2016. Not long ago, the fund was in the news for all the wrong reasons when one recipient was paid R14 million in a spectacular payout bungle, while many students remained without their allowances,” he said.
Thompson added that the children of public servants, especially those who work in the education sector, should be exempted from paying university fees.
“Most of our members are in the missing middle category so their children should automatically qualify for free education,” he said.
He said the the issue of NSFAS and possible proposals on a new funding model will be discussed at Natu's forthcoming conference and centenary celebrations next month.
Daily News