... education has been declared and made an Apex Priority since 2009. If Verwoerd and his criminal apartheid regime of 1948 had said that the black child must not study mathematics and no black worker must become a skilled artisan, President Zuma has emphatically said the black child must indeed study and be competent in mathematics and that we must increase the production of new artisans, including black artisans. [Applause.] President Zuma not only said these things, but has led from the front through concrete interventions in education as part of inverting and destroying the Verwoerdian legacy in education. In 2009, the President decided to split the former Department of Education into two. This was indeed a stroke of genius. Let me tell you the story.
As the Department of Higher Education and Training, we have developed a vision of postschool education and training and have already made some significant practical advances that are beginning to improve opportunities for our youth and adults in acquiring further education and skills. Under the leadership of President Zuma, further education and training, FET, college enrolments have grown substantially over the last few years, from about 350 000 in 2010 to over 650 000 in 2012. [Applause.]
This has been made possible through a variety of strategies. These include a concerted effort to raise popular consciousness around the possibilities provided by an FET education through the introduction of fee-free education for poor students at FET colleges, and the expansion of shorter skills courses offered in FET colleges with the assistance of the sector education and training authorities, Setas.
Parenthetically, the leader of the IFP stated yesterday that the President only wanted to provide 11 000 jobs for young people. This is a serious misunderstanding, Shenge, if not a deliberate distortion of what the President said. What the President did was to appeal for placements for the 11 000 FET college graduates. This does not constitute the totality of the targets that the President was talking about with a view to tackling youth unemployment. [Applause.]
A turnaround strategy to improve the quality of FET college teaching and management has been developed. This includes short-term interventions to stabilise some of the weaker colleges; the appointment of qualified chartered accountants, CAs, as chief financial officers in 43 of our 50 public FET colleges; the development of specialised qualifications for college lecturers; special interventions to strengthen student support; and a number of other measures. We are also reviewing college curricula so that they are made relevant and up to date.
Under the leadership of this President, the National Student Financial Aid Scheme of SA, NSFAS, which funds loans and bursaries to students in universities and colleges, has expanded massively from R2,375 billion in 2008 to well over R6 billion this year. [Applause.] The President is walking the talk. FET college students coming from poor backgrounds and following occupational programmes are now completely exempted from paying fees. This is indeed the first ever in our country, under the leadership of President Zuma. This has meant that bursary funds ...
... ulalele kahle Bab' uMncwango. [... listen carefully Mr Mncwango.]
Bursary funds for FET college students coming from poor families - including from your constituency - have increased from R310 million in 2009 to R1,75 billion in 2012, and will reach R2 billion this year. Such a massive increase, largely to the benefit of poor black students, has never ever happened in our country before. It is happening for the first time under President Jacob Zuma.
Over the next 3 years, we have set aside R1,7 billion for building new university student accommodation and universities will be contributing R0,6 billion. Of the R2,3 billion total, R1,4 billion will be spent on student accommodation at historically disadvantaged institutions, where the need is greatest, including Fort Hare, horrible Trollip. This will provide 9 000 new beds for our universities.