Chairperson, hon Minister, colleagues, special delegates, let me start by indicating that the committee met on the 10th and looked into the Higher Education Amendment Bill. Of course, it is true that at the meeting only one party indicated its concern, and that was the New NP. However, we all accepted the Bill without amendment. That is the position of the committee.
Higher education is one of the greatest challenges confronting society in the new millennium. Higher education is faced with the challenge of preparing itself to fulfil its mission adequately in a world which is transforming, and to meet the needs and requirements of the 21st century society, which will be knowledgeable, by means of information and education.
Its paramount mission is to serve the human being and society through its work of research and inquiry, its courses of study and training, and its partnership with various social actors. Higher education is called upon to make a key contribution to the opening up and highlighting of new paths for a better future for society and the individual in order to give direction and shape to that future. For this standpoint, it has a twofold mission and that is, firstly, to participate actively in the solving of major global, regional and local problems such as poverty, hunger, illiteracy, social exclusion, the exacerbation of inequalities at national and international levels, the widening of the gap between industrialised and developing countries, and protection of the environment; and, secondly, to assist in drawing up proposals and recommendations to promote universal respect for human rights, equal rights for women and men, justice and the application of democratic principles within its own institutions in society and foster understanding among nations, religions and cultural groups.
Given the important role of higher education, it has become necessary for us as a country to rethink education as a whole - and that has been done. The levels or forms of education, including higher education, can no longer be regarded as truly final. Its structures and courses should not remain fixed at the same place, but should also evolve in order to respond to the evolution of our society.
We know very well what happened when the programme to transform education in our institutions of higher learning was implemented. We saw in the newspapers some people running around criticising that type of a thing. That indicated that within our society there were still people who are not yet ready to accept change and that the question of changing the mind-set also needs to be addressed. People need to read progressive documents, not only old documents of the past, but also documents on research that has been done so that one can equip oneself with the actual information. We still remember what happened in 1976 with regard to education, and that kind of scenario should always be kept in mind whenever we look into education.
This is particularly true given the gross distortions and inequities that existed prior to 1994. These included a lack of equity in the distribution of resources to institutions, enormous disparities between historically black and historically white institutions in terms of facilities and capacities, skewed distribution of students in certain disciplines with no more than a handful of black students in fields such as the sciences, engineering and technology. In addition, the governance structures were characterised by fragmentation, inefficiency and ineffectiveness. Since the enactment of the Higher Education Act, significant progress has been made in addressing the above distortions and broadening access in higher education. Yet, despite the broadening of access, inequalities still exist. The reasons for these inequalities are numerous, including geographical, economic and social factors, in particular those affecting women, the rural population and various disadvantaged groups such as the disabled.
In some of the provinces, for example, there are no institutions of higher learning. Many children have to go to universities in other provinces. This has enormous financial implications for their families because, not only must they cover tuition fees, but they must also cover accommodation expenses. The sad thing about this is that most of our talented matriculants come from poor families. Many of them will not be able to get bursaries, which means that higher education is denied them, purely because of their social and economic status. Every matriculant should have the right to go to university, and their decision whether to go to university or not should be a free choice and not forced upon them by virtue of their social and economic status or geographical location. This will help us to understand the situation in higher education. I would like to make a special appeal to all of us as public representatives. There are documents that we have been given and we have received reports from the Department of Education, and we have gone through some documents on the review of education. It is up to us now as public representatives to educate our structures on the ground, particularly in the provinces, so that we start to understand the content in those particular documents - that is our duty.
I am addressing this to members of the opposition. Whenever we have a debate, we make a point without actually having read the information in the research document, and that is why we sometimes clash with one another. I would like to make a special appeal to colleagues that, yes, it is time for local government elections, but let us not turn education into a cheap politicking tool. Let us go into the implementation of these programmes of transforming higher education to assist the Government in terms of such implementing. [Applause.]