Madam Deputy Speaker, hon Members of Parliament, members of the public in the gallery, I would like to acknowledge the students' representative council, SRC, members from the University of the Western Cape, UWC; University of Cape Town, UCT; Cape Peninsula University of Technology, CPUT; and Stellenbosch institutions who earlier on interacted with the Portfolio Committee on Higher Education, to share their experiences and what they think this debate should inform. As part of my debate, I would also reflect on what they have highlighted for us.
Access to tertiary institutions for the majority of the youth and the community at large is a critical matter, which all off us need to be worried about in terms of sustaining our economic growth.
The debate, Madam Deputy Speaker, takes place at a time when the year is coming to an end - a period when many institutions are at the point of preparing for enrolment for the year 2011.
However, most of the time, when you look at this time now and the following year, you will find that many students, instead of focusing on their studies, are worrying about the fee increments that are imposed on them. The fee increments are normally at a level which the majority of our people, learners and students at institutions can't afford. Instead of these students focusing on their studies, they become worried about what the future holds and whether it will be sustained because the fee increments are not at the levels that they can afford.
Madam Deputy Speaker, in Stellenbosch we have a situation, which the students have shared with us, where the proposed fee increase was 15%. Students had to fight to get it to 11%, which is still very high. When you look at the interest rates currently sitting at 6%, you could understand it if they are to put on an additional 2%. However, you can't justify having 11% as an increase. This is one of the means by which discrimination continues against our students.
Furthermore, we looked at the issues of institutional differentiation and mergers. One of the key goals of transforming the institutional landscape includes the creation of a more diverse and differentiated higher education landscape.
The aim was the diversification of institutional profiles and their capacity to address diverse needs and societal demands, which usually are associated with the expansion and massification of higher education, and the increasingly diverse profiles, competences and qualifications of students. With the expectation that they should fulfil a wide range of demands linked to the emergence of knowledge societies, new roles and tasks that go well beyond the traditional functions of teaching and research have developed.
It is important to note that in addition to widening access in order to produce a greater pool of qualified workers for the knowledge economy, business innovation, knowledge transfer and continuing professional development have become increasingly important dimensions of higher education activities.
Through the mergers, three institutional types were developed and were created to bring about differentiation amongst institutions of higher learning. It is important that we note that this included democracy, equity with redress, public accountability, academic freedom and quality. This was reflected in the White Paper.
Different institutional types provide choices to students; graduates from different programmes for a complex labour market; efficiency through specialisation; and different staffing arrangements.
According to the Higher Education South Africa, HESA, report entitled Pathways to a Diverse and Effective South African Higher Education System, Strategic Framework 2010-20, major achievements have been seen. African students now make up 63% of the public higher education student numbers, which rose from 58% in 2008. We also look at African female students, who now make up 56% of the total student number, which increased from 52% in 2000.
We further note the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, Unesco, report that defines the challenges we are faced with. Currently we have an enrolment that has increased by 1% from 15% in 2001; in 2010 we are sitting at 16%. This shows that we still have a lot of challenges.
The quite worrying factor is the high dropout rate of students in higher education institutions, particularly during the first year of their studies. This is a well-known factor and we have been interacting with this through the presentations that we have received even at the committee level. However, the other challenge that the institutions are faced with is the low graduation rates, and this together with the high dropout rates clearly shows that something is seriously amiss in our higher education system.
The poor students coming from different disadvantaged communities continue to suffer because the institutions by nature have been defined and designed to look at minority people and also to look at those who are coming from urban areas. Often you would find students from rural areas who are poor and can't adjust to the institution and therefore end up dropping out.
There are many issues, Madam Speaker, which we would also like to cover in terms of the institutions of higher learning having a responsibility to ensure that they are accessible to all South Africans. The key issue is that there is a need to really look in detail at the functions of these institutions and to be able to respond to the demand and the need. Student enrolment needs to respond to the country's demographics and the immediate needs of communities.
At times, you will find that institutions that exist within the rural communities do not respond to the challenges and needs of that particular community. You would find that the institutions that exist in the rural communities do not even have, for example, agricultural studies, which would contribute to the development of the economy of that environment.
Continually, an institution creates means tests as a form of entry to courses, which often become a method of continuing to exclude more students. You would find many young black students piling up in social studies and there are fewer of them in the scarce skills area. An example, Madam Deputy Speaker, is reflected in the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, CPUT, and has been shared with us by the students. They inform us that currently there has been a capping method in place in the commercial subjects.
Therefore, we request the assistance of the Minister to look at these matters. We call on the department to look at the best ways that can be used to continue to assist in reducing the discrimination against poor, deserving students. If this is not monitored, it can be quite a problem.
Madam Deputy Speaker, the need for comprehensive student support is critical at tertiary institutions. Firstly, these institutions by their nature have been designed to respond to smaller populations. It is further important for institutions to provide courses that are relevant to the communities and the environment they exist in.
Finally, it is important to look at the managerial programmes that are offered by business schools existing within these tertiary institutions. Many courses that are offered by these business schools are not affordable; their fees are so high that many of our people can't afford them.
In conclusion, I just want to reflect on some of the issues that were raised by the students. They raised the issue of academic freedom, transformation and the mergers. Regarding the mergers, we have received complaints that they are not effective, therefore students continue to suffer. However, on the issue of academic freedom, students raised the point that they continue to support academic freedom as long as they are not excluded through the process.
Again, students raised the issue of key private-public partnerships that need to be introduced as a form of comprehensive funding for students, because at times you would find that their postgraduate level is not funded. When they are interested in continuing to the postgraduate level they do not get the support they need to be able to meet the challenges.
Among these issues are the high, upfront payments requested by institutions. This is a major challenge that, most of the time, causes the high dropout rate of students in higher education institutions. As a result, they have requested us to say when we talk about access, let's not talk about them getting into the schools or the tertiary institution, but we must look at them being sustained in those institutions. We must look at them being able to graduate and move on to a higher postgraduate level. Thank you. [Applause.]
Hon Deputy Speaker, in July of every year, young South African matriculants start to prepare their applications to attend university. It is an absolutely vital first step in realising their hope for a future as independent young adults.
Parental pride, of course, is accompanied by anxiety about whether they can afford a university-level education, especially one that is worthwhile.
The statistics for 2009 indicate that 164 528 students entered university for the first time. We estimate that some 65% of those entering class for the first time are drawn directly from matric. Three times as many students apply for admission as those who enter for the first time. Admission requirements are modified in many cases by giving preferential access to students from historically disadvantaged backgrounds.
Many students do not attend the university of their choice. We do not know, on a national level, how many students get to attend their first, second or third choice of university. Anecdotally, the estimate is a one-in-twenty chance for the average student with average academic performance to enter the university of their first choice.
Attending a university, especially for those who are located far away from home, can be a frightening prospect. If you are the first person from your family to attend university, which is the case for many if not most poor students, the unfamiliarity of that experience on a wide variety of fronts can be terrifying. What then are the barriers to entering a South African university?
To start with, university officials would, of course, say that the greatest barrier is academic. Reviewing the figures since 1994, we reached a high point of a 73% matric pass rate in 2003, followed by a prolonged downswing to reach 61% in 2009. Of those who passed, 20% of students had university exemption. Of those who wrote the first key subject of mathematics needed for any science or economics degree, 18% passed with 50% or more and 29% passed with 40% or more.
If one takes 50% to be a real pass in mathematics, then 82% of our students who wrote mathematics actually failed and 18% passed. This is a decline in performance of catastrophic proportions.
The second barrier to entry is cultural. If you are academically capable and your first language is English, the world is your oyster in South Africa. There is far less of a choice, but you still have a choice between some credible institutions of higher learning if your first language is Afrikaans. You do not have many good choices to make if your first language is isiZulu or isiXhosa.
Language and the cultural apparatus that comes with it are vital resources on which to build academic success. They give emotional security to those entering universities for the first time. Families who have sent their children to university for generations do not know how lucky they are.
The third barrier to entry is class. All universities charge fees as the government subsidy is not enough to cover the costs of a quality education. The facility that enables poor students to afford university education is the National Student Financial Aid Scheme, NSFAS. Aid is provided to 17% of students.
In 2008 a mere 19% of NSFAS-supported students graduated, whereas a phenomenal 48% dropped out of the system. Poor students, who are mostly black, are therefore granted access, but they fail or drop out and then sink back into poverty.
There are other barriers that matter, such as geography, gender and disability. While universities should do what they can to ameliorate barriers to entry, the most fundamental one is really out of their hands, which is the quality of our matric results and the expansion of the college system. At present there are about 125 000 full-time equivalent students studying at the further education and training, FET, colleges. This number is subject to confirmation. The enrolment should grow to over a million by 2018. The pass rate for FET colleges is estimated to be a dismal 30%.
At university it takes, on average, five years to complete a three-year degree. The dropout rate is alarming. There are too many underprepared students in the system. It distracts universities and diverts resources from their core functions. In summary, we need to solve some major problems and unless we do, our human resources development strategy will implode.
The question is: What has the Minister of Higher Education and Training, Blade Nzimande, done to solve the problems? Not much, it seems. He has held many summits and made lots of speeches. The only hard decision he has taken is to place some sector education and training authorities, Setas, under administration. He has also announced what is called the new Seta landscape; an act undertaken with the courage of a mouse in the face of the fury of an elephant.
The creation of a new Ministry, his brainchild, will cost the taxpayer R150 million. He has lost a director-general, Prof Mary Metcalfe - because, I believe, he wanted to fly half of the SACP to Cuba - and his media spokesperson because he is a public relations nightmare. He was recently spotted at the Vineyard Hotel and, if he was staying there, it seems as if the embarrassment of staying at the uberbourgeois hotel, the Mount Nelson, is not enough to deter him.
The question is: What has to be done? Many more opportunities for the main Nguni first-language speakers should be created using a multicultural approach to development at universities at a regional level. Universities should be financed to replace the three-year-long degree with a four-year- long one.
In consultation with the provinces, dysfunctional FET college councils and principals should be performance-managed out of the system and a quality rebuilding process should begin.
The National Skills Fund should be used as a financial vehicle for the FET curriculum expansion involving the private sector and, when it comes to schools, the provincial education superintendent-generals should assert their duties and obligations to govern and administer, keep the teachers' unions at bay and be held to account for mismanagement. Government must abandon the national democratic revolution as the guiding principle in appointments.
In conclusion, last week, the Eastern Cape provincial government rehired Mr Mannya as superintendent-general of education. He was rehired even though he left the same post in 2001 after being threatened with criminal charges by the MEC for education, who claimed he had failed to perform his duties.
Last year he was suspended and dismissed as head of the KwaZulu-Natal department of agriculture after a disciplinary hearing found him guilty on 16 charges of misconduct. So here he is to rescue a department that received a disclaimer from the Auditor-General - no accountability! Government recycles crooks to look after our children's education. Thank you. [Applause.]
Madam Deputy Speaker, hon members, learners in the gallery, we are today tackling the issue of access to tertiary education for poor and deserving students. I much prefer referring to such learners as learners without means rather than poor students, as this labelling perspective is drawn from a deficit model where poor is equated to inability, rural, underpreparedness and sometimes mental underdevelopment.
History should tell us that this couldn't be further from the truth as South Africa on her own boasts leaders who come from such poor backgrounds. The issue of "poor" when addressed developmentally means opening and giving opportunities to those learners without means, who have the potential and to which such opportunities did not or do not come naturally.
For Cope, access to a tertiary institution is more than students bringing warm bodies to the institution. It starts with an enabling environment, be this physical, as in residences; psychological, as in mental preparedness; economic, as in means; or geographic, as in proximity or lack thereof. It is a total package of an environment ready and willing to receive, teach, engage and nurture the learner. A passive, hostile environment is not psychologically enabling. Therefore, it will not be helpful to a learner even if such a learner had the material means to study; bearing in mind that there are many poor and deserving learners, who, because of their socioeconomic conditions, are not able to make it to such institutions.
The enabling environment goes as far as giving material assistance to deserving learners, which brings me to the issue of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme, NSFAS. I am aware that this issue, Minister, is currently receiving attention. I hope that the Cabinet will be generous in its approach to this question.
Everybody uses the World Cup and its successes as a benchmark of how South Africa can rise to a challenge when called upon to do so. Well, there can never be a bigger and better World Cup than an investment in the human resources of this country!
Still on the question of the national students fund, one cannot overemphasise the principles of fairness and justice in administering this scheme. There is so much mischief at institutional level with regard to the disbursement of this fund and so much politics involved in its administration.
Suddenly, to be poor and deserving means being properly networked and connected. This must stop. Being without means must be what it is and "deserving" must be what it means. That is why we have professional students who stand in the way of learners wanting to come in. Those powerful parents whose children are not in a hurry to finish studying, must stop intimidating institutions by using their influence and power to persuade them not to exclude their children. They are blocking the way.
In conclusion, access to the institutions of higher learning starts at the basic education level. That is why we need a sustained and focused engagement with basic education. I repeat the assertion that education must be seen as a chain from production to consumers, linking primary schooling to secondary schooling, to higher education and ultimately to the marketplace.
Any supply chain manager will tell you that the chain is as strong as its weakest link. The failures of primary schooling cannot be fixed at tertiary institutions. The failures at tertiary institutions cannot be fixed in the marketplace and that is why we need to support the efforts of basic education. Thank you. [Applause]
Hon Deputy Speaker, the Department of Education, then, developed a plan for higher education in 2004 with targets to tackle issues such as the one we dealing with today.
The question is: What happened to that plan? Why was it never implemented? Here we are, six years later, dealing with the same challenges that we were going to address in 2004.
Nevertheless, the IFP believes that the key to successfully overcoming our challenges lies first in being able to identify them correctly, and with sufficient insight and clarity. Let me cite four challenges that we are facing. Firstly, with regard to quality of education, our learners suffer because our approach to quality education has always been, "Fatten the pig before the day of sale". This focus has made us neglect some very essential elements in basic education.
For instance, in 2008 we had a 62% matric pass rate with 19,5% of the students obtaining matriculation exemptions. In 2009, the matric pass rate was 60,7% with 19,8% of the students obtaining matriculation exemption. This equates to approximately only 100 000 learners per year being eligible for tertiary education. Our basic education is not equipping our learners to adequately deal with and adapt to the high standards of education at our tertiary institutions.
Secondly, in terms of university autonomy, universities drive their own entrance requirements. We feel they should at least liaise with the department regarding these exams so that our learners can be better prepared when they sit these examinations.
Thirdly, regarding NSFAS, here we can urge the Minister to implement the recommendations that are contained in the recent review of the scheme. We feel that many students are turned away just because they cannot pay the registration fees. We know that the Minister thinks it was hon Minister Pandor who had entered into an agreement with universities to waive the registration fees. However, this has not been enforceable.
Lastly, on the issue of personal circumstances, we must come to the personal circumstances surrounding many of our poor learners and these may vary from unwanted pregnancies, HIV and Aids and in some instances, cultural constraints. Thank you. [Time expired.]
Hon chairperson and hon members, the UDM fully supports access to tertiary education for deserving under- and postgraduate students who are denied an opportunity because of poverty. It would be difficult to imagine that anyone in this House would disagree with that proposition.
The question is, therefore, not whether it is desirable, but what steps are required to make this happen. This is where the dilemma lies: South Africa is already spending more on education in general than any other line function, except for social assistance and grants. In other words, we would be taking funding from other vital functions if we intend to find funding for these students outside the education budget.
We can honestly ask ourselves whether the money should not come from within the large budget allocated to the two departments of education. Are taxpayers genuinely getting value for their money from the current education budget? The answer is an undeniable no.
Basic literacy and numeracy among South African schoolchildren are far below international standards. Countries that are far poorer and spend significantly less on education still outperform us.
As the UDM has said in its manifesto, we need to return to the basics with our education. Years of fiddling with the curriculum and policies have left the education system in a perilous state. We should be getting far more value from the overall education budget. Clearly, money that could fund deserving under- and postgraduates from disadvantaged circumstances is going to waste.
A word of caution should also be raised with regard to the popular practice in certain circles of blaming the universities and tertiary institutions. These institutions are pressured by government to produce more degrees with less funding to answer the skills shortage in the economy, but at the same time government demands higher enrolment and lower fees. These are two competing demands, which, if not checked can lead to only ... [Time expired.]
Hon Chairperson, the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa declares that everyone has the right to basic and further education. Despite the declaration and concerns that education should be accorded to all, access for the disabled or for people living with disabilities is still a challenge in our country. That is why today I will speak on access to education for people living with disabilities.
We normally understand access to education to be the accessibility of education to any student, including access to appropriate educational institutions, materials and personnel. For disabled people, however, access is more than that. Access for them has more to do with the characteristics of available facilities, programmes and services that allow these to be entered or used by individuals despite visual, hearing, mobility and other impairments.
This is because disability is a condition of being unable to perform as a consequence of physical or mental unfitness. Therefore, this is more about removing obstacles and barriers so that people with disabilities are able to perform.
The Soudien report noted the following: As far as disability is concerned, there seems to be a general recognition that there has been limited progress made in addressing the needs of the disabled, both in terms of the physical infrastructure, as well as educational support structures.
The lack of access to higher education for disabled people is indicated by the fact that in 2007 there were only 4 325 disabled students in higher education that were recorded. This figure represents only 0,6% of the total head-count of the enrolment of students for higher education.
When one looks at the statistics for 2009, there was a very minimal growth in that number: only 347, which meant that it moved up to 4 672 students with disabilities who had access to the higher education of our country from 4 325. This is an area of concern. However, we are very proud to say that with the current Minister and with Higher Education and Training as a Ministry on its own, we hope and believe that these are some of the issues that are going to be addressed and looked at so that we can see more people with disabilities having access to higher education, as we expect them to.
On top of this, Minister, as has been mentioned by the previous speakers here, I think it is important to note that no matter what we do, we will never succeed as the Department of Higher Education and Training if we don't involve or work together with the Department of Basic Education. This is because we can't really wait for learners to have access to higher education institutions.
What is happening at the basic education level? We think that is what we need to look at. I will just give an example. There is a community for the disabled here in Cape Town that has just come to the portfolio committee to air their views and complaints about where they are at the schooling level.
They said they were running short of educators who are well trained to teach disabled learners. There was also an example of deaf schools. So, really, Minister, if we don't look at what is happening at the school level, we will always be faced with the problem of people with disabilities experiencing difficulties in having access to higher education, as is the case now.
As a country, I think we have to note that we have undergone a significant process of transformation, especially in higher education. At the centre of this transformation process that we are talking about is the goal of increasing access for the most disadvantaged groups in our society, including students with disabilities. It is disheartening, though, to note that there is still a lack of commitment by some of the higher education institutions to ensure that the right environment for learning for students with disabilities is being provided. Another breakthrough that our government has achieved was to make sure that people with disabilities do get access to higher education institutions. When we look at the National Student Financial Aid Scheme, NSFAS, everybody can apply for it. It is a great achievement that there is a portion that is specifically allocated to people with disabilities within NSFAS.
When one looks at the annual report for 2009-10 at NSFAS, it is reported that there has been a low uptake of special funding by disabled students. This is caused by the lack of advocacy. One would find that most of the students were not aware that they could specifically apply for such funding for them to have access to higher education institutions. However, I think we need to commend the government for doing this to show that they are taking care of people living with disabilities.
Again, when we look at the Soudien report, we note that there is still discrimination taking place when one goes to institutions of higher learning. The infrastructure is not yet up to standard to accommodate some of these learners. Here is one example: There is a university where students had to sit for more than three weeks without going to classes just because there were no ramps for wheelchairs for them to go and attend those classes. I think this is one of the things you need to look at, Minister, to make sure that our students who are disabled have access in this form.
Another thing that is lacking in some of the universities is that even residences are not built in a manner that can accommodate such students. We find that due to that, a small number of students have access to universities.
We also need our universities to have sensitivity towards learning disabilities such as dyslexia. Braille needs to be used. We need to see these things happening in our institutions. So this is a challenge to all universities to provide all these adequate systems to support the teaching and learning of students with disabilities and to make sure that teaching methods do take this into consideration.
This would require a budget, and we need to commit to this budget for the purpose of ensuring access for these students. By so doing, we will be ensuring that people with disabilities feel they are part of the community in our country and that they will even have access to the labour market and be able to contribute to the economy of the country.
Minister, we know the passion that you have. I think it would be proper for me to highlight this. The Minister that we have is very passionate, especially about the skilling of people. When we talk of the skilling of people, we are not leaving ... [Interjections.] Thank you. [Time expired.] [Applause.]
Order! Hon members, you are conversing too loudly, and we can't hear the speakers. Please!
The DEPUTY MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE, FORESTRY AND FISHERIES: Chairperson, following the Anglo Boer War in 1902, the majority of Afrikaans families were very poor.
My father was the youngest child of such a family. There were 10 children who qualified for the definition of today's subject. If I may define it, they were poor and deserving children who wanted to become students. Because there wasn't any money, the eldest seven children could not study further after school level and had to go and work.
The youngest three could go and study further only because the older brothers and sisters, who were working, sent money home for them to study. So, this is not a new problem at the moment. The FF Plus says it is a serious injustice perpetrated against any child who has the ability to learn and who performs well academically at school, if he or she cannot study further for economic reasons.
That is why the government's bursary scheme is so important. However, the government's bursary scheme seriously discriminates, at the moment, against certain students, specifically brown students and white students. According to statistics, only 4% of brown students recently received bursaries and only 2% of white students received bursaries. This is not representative of the general population at all.
It also appears as if Afrikaans students are being discriminated against specifically. Now you must remember that the majority of Afrikaans-speaking people in South Africa, for a long time already, have not been white people. Afrikaans is a language through which these students, especially the brown students, are empowered.
The majority of these students live in the Western Cape. The population in the Western Cape is approximately 60% brown, 20% white and 20% black. According to the national bursary scheme, 16 000 bursaries were made available in the Western Cape. Altogether 69% of these were awarded to black students; 22% were awarded to brown students; and 6% were awarded to white students. How do I explain this to the young people who phone me and talk to me about this?
We are creating a new generation of aggrieved young people - brown and white - because they feel that they are being discriminated against because they are poor, on the one hand, but also because it seems they are not black enough, on the other hand. After 16 years, surely this is a very serious matter that cannot continue. I thank you.
Hon Chairperson, let me first and foremost acknowledge the guests, particularly the students' representative council, SRC, leadership, my mother, my wife and the young ones in the gallery.
The challenge facing our country in the new dispensation, amongst other things, is the transformation of the education and training system to redress past discrimination and ensure representation and equal access. The educational disparities are manifested along racial, class and gender lines due to the political, economic and social policies of the pre-1994 era.
Most learners from rural, disadvantaged schools are seldom advised on alternative paths to education and career opportunities and funding availability. They often learn about the national financial aid schemes only upon arrival at the universities.
These institutions should reach out to all areas of the country, more especially the most rural areas where the youth or learners have very little access to any form of media, by conducting road shows and other strategies that would enhance fair access to information.
The provision of quality education for the broader section of learners coming from rural and poorer areas leaves much to be desired, thereby hindering access opportunities for the majority of learners. Many of them have to undergo bridging courses before the primary course they intend to study. These bridging courses are not funded by the National Student Financial Aid Scheme, NSFAS. Therefore, those students from poor socioeconomic backgrounds, though deserving, may not be able to afford the cost for the bridging courses.
The threshold for the beneficiaries of the NSFAS funds should be reviewed in order to accommodate those students whose parents currently qualify for neither the scheme, as middle-income earners, nor loans from the financial houses. The NSFAS institution allocation formula needs to be revisited to ensure access to adequate resources for all deserving students.
The government should consider funding postgraduate programmes to assist students who often rely on part-time employment to finance their studies.
There is also an urgent need to improve, strengthen and expand the further education and training, FET, sector so that many students, who cannot gain entry to universities, are absorbed by the colleges. The majority of learners from rural and poor areas are inadequately prepared for higher education studies due to a lack of proper facilities. The college sector should accommodate them.
There is a need for improvement of the curriculum at FET colleges to enable smooth articulation from FET colleges to institutions of higher learning. The FET colleges are mostly accessible to most learners and should deliberately be made institutions of choice. We need a clear focus on this sector if we are to succeed in the provision of critical skills needed by the economy of our country.
Some of the FET colleges are not relevant and/or responsive to the local economic development strategies where they are found. This matter needs urgent attention to ensure that their programmes are responsive to the market demands as far as possible.
It should be acknowledged that the educational policies of the past prevented millions of our people from accessing formal education and training, hence the ANC government introduced recognition of prior learning to recognise the expertise and the experience of these people and to award credits towards the achievement of qualifications or part qualifications. Others have never completed their formal education. Recognition of prior learning, RPL, gives them a second chance to access education and training and become the qualified citizens they ought to be. Yet others have undergone in-house and workplace training, but do not have full qualifications. Therefore RPL will acknowledge the parts of qualifications that people already have and identify what is outstanding so that they can complete their qualifications should they wish to do so.
It has been noted that most institutions of higher learning use RPL for admission purposes and not to award credits or qualifications. Since there is no financial recoveries being made from implementing RPL, institutions place it on the low-priority list. Therefore, it is not surprising that very little has been done since 2002. Most institutions are still grappling with a proper conceptualisation and implementation of this programme.
The government, through the Setas, should use funds earmarked for skills development to include RPL and probably give financial incentives in order to encourage institutions to implement it.
Recognition of prior learning should be positioned as a central pillar of redress, having the capacity to widen access to education and training and to enhance the qualification status of historically disadvantaged adults. It is required of us to remove legal impediments such as the 50% residency clause and the Umalusi accreditation requirements that disallow assessment- only providers and the matriculation with endorsement as entry requirements to higher education.
The new higher education and training system, which is a single, national, co-ordinated system, should enhance the broadening of the social base of learners in terms of race, class, gender and age. The higher education system must be transformed to redress past inequalities, to serve a new social order, to meet pressing national needs and to respond to new realities and opportunities.
Tiko leri vekisaka eka dyondzo ya rixaka kumbe eka vaakatiko hi ku angarhela i tiko leri hluvukaka hi ku hatlisa loko ri tekele enhlokweni dyondzo ya rixaka. Inkomu Mutshamaxitulu. [Va phokotela.] [A country that invests in the nation's education or society in general is a country that develops rapidly if it has prioritised the nation's education. Thank you, Chairperson. [Applause.]]
House Chairperson, the ACDP believes that to merely consider access to tertiary institutions for poor, deserving under- and postgraduates without addressing the reasons for the high undergraduate dropout rate would in all probability be a waste, ultimately, of our time and resources.
It is reported that at some institutions the dropout rate is as high as 80% and the National Student Financial Aid Scheme of South Africa has managed to recover only 20% of the total R12 billion in funds it has loaned.
Access to tertiary education also means access to relevant books and equipment. Calls for government to consider dropping VAT on textbooks to free up 14% more funds for books and resource materials seem like a reasonable idea. Has the government considered this, hon Minister?
First-generation students from low-income families with cramped living conditions are, however, the most likely to drop out, and it will take nothing short of total funding on education, accommodation, food and books to ensure that students have an opportunity to actually complete their degrees.
From the ACDP would like to see the National Student Financial Aid Scheme of South Africa linked to public-private partnerships where students are placed in companies that provide financial support, mentoring, vacation employment and an incentive to reach degree goals.
As far back as 1994, the ACDP has been calling for the introduction of a voucher system in our schools. The ACDP has also called for broader criteria for loan qualification, and we therefore support the recommendation to change the income level. This will allow additional students to qualify for partial funding, a step that would be in the right direction. Thank you.
Chairperson, hon members, guests, and representatives of SRCs, one of the issues that limits access to higher education is funding. There are many students in our country who are euphemistically referred to as previously or historically disadvantaged.
For many of them, there is nothing previous about them being disadvantaged. They are still as disadvantaged now as their parents have been. They attend poorly resourced and poorly run schools, referred to as dysfunctional schools. They get poor Grade 12 passes, not because they are intellectually less gifted, but because the system failed them.
Azapo believes that besides funding, the best way of improving access to higher education for the majority of our people is to improve the quality of teaching and learning in village and township schools. Thank you.
House Chairperson, I would just like to note and acknowledge the inputs and the contributions to the discussion. I think there is a need for all of us continually to engage to ensure that there is a better future for all young people in South Africa, so that they can contribute positively to the economy of the country.
There are various areas that I just want to respond to that members have reflected on. Firstly, I would like to respond to the issue of the summits. I want to say here that those of us who were part of the summits acknowledge their importance. The summits that were referred to by the hon James were stakeholder summits where people were operating within particular sectors. It was a skills development summit, a higher education summit, and a further education and training summit.
The stakeholders appreciated what the Minister was doing. The stakeholders appreciated the engagement, saying that they appreciate being engaged with in a process where they can make inputs to policy development and development of the Green Paper.
I think, Minister, from where we are standing as the ANC, we applaud you for the work that you have done and appreciate that this is a government of the people by the people. It is not that we are doing something separate that people are not part of.
I think we need to acknowledge that and note that perhaps that is the view that the DA is holding, because they did not participate in the summits, although they were invited. All of us, as members of the portfolio committee, went to those summits. Again, it does not profit us to go to the point of character assassination, hitting on the Minister without us dealing with the issues we are faced with.
All of us are stakeholders; all of us have a responsibility; and all of us have a part to play. This means that all of us, including the DA, need to assist in shaping the way forward, in informing the policies that are being developed, as Members of Parliament and members of the portfolio committee.
There is a second point that I want to reflect on. I am not so sure that the issues that the hon Ntapane from the UDM has raised are relevant in a higher education debate. The issue that we are dealing with here is access to tertiary institutions by students at a tertiary level. It has nothing to do with numeracy and literacy. Those are issues that we must debate at a basic education level. Therefore, I think that he should perhaps introduce a motion for us to have a debate on that issue. [Applause.]
Finally, the last issue that I think we need to look at in terms of relevance, hon Deputy Minister, is the issue of the equity definition. I don't know whether there is anything called "brown". We have black, white, and coloured. I am not sure about this. I am trying to understand what you are talking about, which racial group you are talking about. I wanted to understand the "brown".
In conclusion, I would like to say that we should appreciate ... [Interjections.]
Can I help the member?
Order! Why are you rising, hon member?
Those categories are not my categories. They are your categories that you filled in on all those different forms at university when they must give census figures. You can go and check on them.
You can continue, hon member.
I don't think he's responding to that. I thought perhaps he would assist and clarify, but we will take it outside. The issue that I think we should look at is the importance of making sure that as we talk about access, there are a number of issues that members have raised.
There are a number of issues that are fundamental to making sure that access to tertiary institutions is open so that all people, old and young, can benefit. We do not sit here and only speak for a particular group. We do not sit here as Members of Parliament and not make sure the ...
Hon member, your time has expired.
I just wanted to say that the debate has contributed positively in ensuring that articulation is properly done in the department. Thank you very much. [Applause.]
Debate concluded.