Chairperson, since taking office I have met with different stakeholders, including the leadership of Higher Education South Africa, Hesa, to discuss several issues pertaining to the higher education sector. As I said, I am also going to be having further consultations on a variety of issues.
The National Student Financial Aid Scheme, NSFAS, remains the flagship vehicle by which government supports poor and academically deserving students. NSFAS continues to provide support to needy students who cannot afford to pay for their fees. In 2008, 153 795 students were supported by means of the scheme and since its inception NSFAS has distributed approximately R12,2 billion to needy students.
On 15 June 2009, I appointed a ministerial committee to review the National Student Financial Aid Scheme. The key objectives are to assess the strength and shortcomings of the current National Student Financial Aid Scheme, and to advise on the short, medium and long-term needs for student financial aid. The two objectives aim to promote the twin goals of equity of access and provision of free undergraduate education to students from working class and poor communities who cannot afford further or higher education. The review will evaluate different models of student financial aid, and make recommendations on the policy and operational changes required to ensure the effective and efficient achievement of these goals. It is envisaged that a final report will be submitted by December 2009.
With your permission, Chairperson, let me state here that part of this review also wants to respond to the problem of students who get assistance for tuition and accommodation but do not have any money for food. That creates many problems. We want to look at how we can actually give comprehensive support to poor students, especially to ensure that those who deserve support are not deprived of higher education because they come from poor families.
The last point is that next month I will be meeting with all the chairpersons of higher education councils to discuss, amongst other things, the issue of financial exclusions. We will be convening this meeting because we want to be able to respond better to this challenge by engaging before it actually overwhelms us. Thank you very much.
Chair, could the hon Minister explain to us how the deserving students will benefit? The report of the ministerial committee will be available in December, and in January or February the schools are reopening. Thank you.
Chairperson, that is a very important question. However, the difficulty in answering it now is that we do not know what the recommendations of that ministerial committee will be. From the government's point of view, we would like to introduce measures as soon as is practically possible.
We might find that some of the recommendations require some preparatory work or might have some budgetary implications that we might have to prepare for. But on our side we are committed to implementing as soon as possible measures for improvement that are needed in order to realise the goal of ensuring that every deserving student who is poor is able to access higher education.
UMBHEXESHI OYINTLOKO WEBHUNGA: Mphathiswa ndiyabulela ngale mpendulo. Ndiyayiva le ngcaciso yesibini, kodwa ndiyafuna ukuba undiphendule okanye uyithathe njengesiphakamiso. Kukho amakhaya apho abantu bexhomekeke kule mali yendodla kuphela, akukho yimbi. Kwaye eyona mali incinci yobhaliso kwezi yunivesithi, xa ndicinga mna, ngama-R3 000. Mhlawumbi ingabe ilungile kum kodwa la makhaya angenanto akasoze abenawo ama-R3 000 okungena esikolweni, ezinye izinto ezinjengoo-NFSAS zilandela oko kungena. (Translation of isiXhosa paragraph follows.)
[The CHIEF WHIP OF THE COUNCIL: I thank you, Minister, for this response. I understand the second explanation, but I would like you to respond to me, or rather, consider this as a proposal. There are families that depend solely on pension grants, and there are no other sources of income. And, the minimum registration fee at universities, I think, is R3 000. I may not have a problem with that, but disadvantaged families may not have R3 000 for registration. Other things, like the NFSAS, follow after registration only.]
UNGQONGQOSHE WEMFUNDO EPHAKEME KANYE NOKUQEQESHA: Ngibonga kakhulu sisi. Lo mbuzo wakho ubalulekile ngoba lokho ngezinye zezinto engethemba ukuthi lelikomidi lizosicushisa kuzona ukuthi senzenjani. Ngoba uzothola ukuthi abanye abantwana bavinjwa wukuthi - njengoba usho nje - awukho lo-R3000 noma u-R4000 ofuneka phambili. Kodwa abantwana bebe bengakwazi ukuthi basebenze baphase. Ngenye yezinto leyo esizoyibuka. Kukhona futhi enye into engifisa ukuthi nginethembise yona, uma ngibuyela kuloya mbuzo obukade ubuziwe ekuqaleni okhuluma ngokuthi sisho isikhathi sokuthi sizoyenza nini le nto.
Ukuthi ngokwethu sifisa ukuthi uma uphuma lo mbiko walolu phenyo siwulethe nalapha kule Ndlu, siwuhambise nangale eNdlini Yesishayamthetho, siwukhiphele emphakathini ukuze sikwazi ukuthi sithole izincomo zokuthi abantu bakithi bayibona kanjani le nto.
Enye into yokugcina nje, noma ungayibuzanga, kodwa ngithi Sihlalo, ngemvume yakho angiyisho: ayiqali lapha empeleni inkathazo yemali kubantwana abantulayo, iqala nje besafaka izicelo zokwamukelwa. Uthola ukuthi umtwana ufaka izicelo zokwamukelwa emanyuvesi mhlawumbe angaba yisikhombisa noma ayisishiyagalombili, kuthi leyo naleyo nyuvesi ifune imali yokufaka isicelo eyaziwa nge-Application Fee. Bese uthola ukuthi umtwana ugcina esebenzise u- R700 ukuya ku-R800 efaka izicelo kule nyuvesi nakuleya nyuvesi.
Into esifuna ukuyenza-ke isifundazwe saKwaZulu-Natali sesiyayenza le nto - sifuna ukuyenza manje kuzwelonke ukuthi uma ufuna ukuya enyuvesi kufanele ufake isicelo endaweni eyodwa kuphela bese bona bathatha uhlu lamagama abantwana abafake izicelo bawahambise e manyuvesi ukuthi naba abantwana abafuna ukufunda. Sifuna ukwenza le nto kuzwelonke ukuthi uma umntwana efuna ukuya enyuvesi, yinye kuphela indawo ekufanele afake kuyona isicelo bese ekhokha leyo madlana encane kuleyo ndawo bese kubhekwa-ke ukuthi iyiphi inyuvesi noma ikolishi elingakwazi ukumthatha. Ngiyabonga.
Ngqongqoshe Mphephethwa, siyabonga ngempendulo osinike yona. Ukulandelela nje, kungenzeka yini kubekhona ukuthi kubhekelelwe ikakhulukazi abafundi abasuka ezindaweni ezisemakhaya, njengoba uNgqonqgoshe ephathe indaba yokufaka izicelo nje kuyafana nendaba yokugibela. Ngoba omunye umfundi osuka ezindaweni zasemakhaya ukhokha kakhulu kusadingeka ayofaka isicelo enyuvesi ubanenkinga yemali ukuthi uzogibela afike nini kuthi uma efika afike umugqa usumude.
Ngabe ikhona yini indlela yokuthi sibhekelele laba bafundi abasuka emakhaya? Ziningi izindawo zasemakhaya, ngisuka eGingindlovu nje mina, bakhona abafundi basemakhaya abaswele izimali zokuya esikoleni namanje, nanokuthi-ke Ngqongqoshe, kukhona yini olunye uhlelo lokuthi uma kuqala unyaka ozayo abafundi balungiselelwe lolu hlelo oluzayo ukuthi basizakale? Ngiyabonga.
UNGQONGQOSHE WEMFUNDO EPHAKEME KANYE NOKUQEQESHA : Ngiyabonga kakhulu lungu elihloniphekile. Udaba lwabantwana basemakhaya udaba oluphambili kakhulu kithina kangangoba kwamanje njengoba bengikhuluma ngendaba yokuthi kusizwe abafundi abaqhamuka emizini entulayo ukuze bakwazi ukuphasa esikoleni.
Kunemali eyizigidi eziyi-R146 kulo nyaka ekhishwe yilo Mnyango yokusiza labo bafundi. Imali eningi kule mali iya ukuyolekelela ikakhulukazi kulawa manyuvesi akithi asezindaweni ezisemakhaya ekuyiwona vele athatha kakhulu abantwana abaphuma ezindaweni ezisemakhaya, wona angoNgoye, Inyuvesi yaseLimpopo nabo-Forte Hare. Ngizothi-ke izinto esizibhekelele njengamanje - njengoba ngisho nje ngithi yilolu phenyo. (Translation of isiZulu paragraphs follows.)
[The MINISTER OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND TRAINING: Thank you very much, Madam. Your question is very important because that is one of the issues I hope that this committee will help us tackle. You will find that some of the children are prevented from registering because, as you mentioned, they don't have the R3000 or R4000 which is a prerequisite, but they would have managed their work and passed. That is one of the things that we are going to look into.
There is also something that I would like to promise you, if I may go back to the question that was asked earlier on about setting up time frames. We want to table a report of this inquiry in this House, and then send it to the National Assembly as well as to the community so that we can get recommendations based on how our people view this issue.
One last thing, even though you did not ask, Chairperson, but with your permission let me say that the financial problem does not actually start here for the underprivileged children; it begins when they submit their applications for admission. You find that a child submits applications for admission to about seven or eight universities, and each university requires an amount of money known as the application fee. And then you find that a child ends up spending approximately R700 to R800 on application fees for the different universities.
The province of KwaZulu-Natal is already doing what we now want to do nationally. If you want to go to university you will have to submit your application to only one place and then they will submit the list of children who submitted their applications and send them to the other universities to indicate that these are the children who want to study. We want to do this nationally; if a child wants to go to university, there is only one place where he or she must pay money and then they check which university or college is able to admit him or her. Thank you.
Hon Minister Mphephethwa, we thank you for the response. To follow up on that, is it possible that assistance can be made available, especially to students from the rural areas, since the Minister mentioned the issue of submitting applications which is the same problem with regard to transport. Because a student from a rural area pays a lot of money for transport when he is expected to go and submit the application at a university. He or she encounters a challenge financially when he or she has to travel and when he or she arrives there he or she finds that the queue is already long.
Is there a way that we can assist these students from the rural areas? There are many rural areas. I, for one, come from Gingindlovu, and the students from these rural areas are in need of money to go to school even now. Minister, is there another plan in place for the coming year so that when it begins the students are prepared and they will be assisted? Thank you.
Thank you very much, hon member. The issue of the children from rural areas is our first priority, so much so that even now I was talking about the issue of assisting students from poor families so that they can pass at school.
R146 million has been set aside by this department for this year to assist those students. Most of this money is going to assist the universities in the rural areas because they are the ones that admit mostly students from the rural areas. Examples of these are the University of Zululand, the University of Limpopo and the University of Fort Hare. I am saying that our focus right now is on this investigation. Thank you.]
We want the National Student Financial Aid Scheme, NSFAS, Review Committee to come up with comprehensive proposals to deal with these problems so that children from poor families are able to access institutions of higher education with minimal fuss so that they are actually assisted in every way possible. As far as this government is concerned, we want nothing less than that. We hope that when this report comes out, with recommendations that we think are going to address all those issues, we will have the full support of the Council. Thank you.
Position regarding amendment of regulations pertaining to receipt of social grants
31. Mrs M C Dikgale (ANC) asked the Minister of Social Development:
Whether the existing regulations should be amended to make provision for spouses of employees of the state to qualify to receive social grants; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, (a) when and (b) what are the further relevant details?