Durban - Teaching was disrupted at the Pinetown Elangeni TVET College Campus after protesting students vowed it won’t be business as until their demands were met.
The students protesting at the college’s main gate on Bamboo Lane said they were angry as they had no bus fare or rent money as they awaited National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) funding.
A student who did not want to be named said they have not had this funding since the academic year began.
“At the moment there’s no lecture for mathematical literacy here on campus and right now people have started writing exams but no textbooks were made available. There are also laptops that students were promised, we still haven’t got those,” he said.
He explained that they also did not have student cards and had to produce a proof of registration at the gate.
“Every time you walk through the gate they require you to produce proof of registration, we want student cards like all other campuses. This year we have not had any funding, when the academic year started we also started but yet there is no mathematical literacy lecture,” he said.
The student said this made it hard for his peers who will in the long run be required to sit for exams that they were ill prepared for.
“Management knows there’s no lecture but they are quiet about that . We need a place to print, students have a problem when they have to print. There’s no place here on campus that we have access to like a lab. We have to go ask them at their offices and they don’t allow us. This causes a strain on students, we are tired of this and we want answers from management. The campus will not operate until our demands are met”.
When the Daily News approached campus management at the gate where it had been gathered with a police officer, it declined to comment.
Management said the paper would be contacted by the college’s spokesperson.
Daily News