Chair, indeed, we intend to expand the resources that we are supposed to provide schools with. The Presidency has already given us more than R500 million to top up schools and make sure that we provide schools with textbooks and deal with all the problems the member has raised. In January we will be able to top up schools in order to provide more textbooks to 60% of all our poor schools to solve the problems those schools are experiencing. We are working on it. In January, when the schools reopen, we'll be ready with those textbooks and other resources for the 60% of our schools in poor areas.
Steps taken to remove the burden of the cost of education and to transform the NSFAS
191. Mr Z S Makhubele (ANC) asked the Minister of Higher Education and Training:
(1) What steps have been taken to remove the burden of the cost of education from poor families, especially in the light of the underspending by the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS); and
(2) to what degree is the further expansion of the services and the transformation of the NSFAS receiving priority?