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.]]