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]