Parliament – Parliament’s higher education and training portfolio committee on Sunday lauded both management and students at Wits University for the manner in which they are handling their disagreements over the proposed fee hikes.
“This essentially provides an example of how disputes should be handled on campuses,” committee chairwoman Yvonne Phosa said in a statement.
“We’d like to see the students exercising their democratic rights to voice their grievances in a responsible and peaceful manner. At the same time, we’d like to see the management speedily engaging with students and providing a platform through which their voices can be raised,” she said.
The Wits Council on Saturday signed an agreement with the Students’ Representative Council suspending the proposed 10.5 percent hike in fees next year, and opened the door for renewed negotiations on the matter. Students protested for three days against the increase and classes were suspended.
In her statement on Sunday, Phosa also commended the department for successfully staging the second higher education summit, which was concluded in Durban on Saturday.
The three-day summit provided a platform for a wide range of delegates to discuss pertinent issues in higher education – including funding and transformation – and to work towards identifying sustainable solutions for these.
The committee attended the summit and this afforded MPs an opportunity to gain insights on the extent of the problems in the sector and also provided a gauge on current interventions, as well as a forecast on longer term solutions, Phosa said.
“As a committee, we were enriched by the deliberations that took place over the three days. This will certainly aid our oversight work going forward. We will be able to interact with management at universities and TVET colleges [Technical Vocational Education and Training] being fully informed by virtue of having a full picture of the current challenges as presented directly by the various stakeholders, which crucially included the students.
“We will continue keeping a close eye on the implementation of the various resolutions in our role of holding the department and its entities accountable,” said Phosa.
African News Agency
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