Students strike for monthly allowance
More than 80 per cent of the students attended the college on a bursary. But if the system favoured by them was implemented this year, the number would drop substantially to 40 or 50 per cent due to the administrative costs and the savings on which the college would miss out.
On Thursday students of the Ehlanzeni FET College barricaded the entrance to the campus to protest against a financial system which they said did not benefit them.
The Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET), in association with the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS), implemented a new policy last October. According to this, students should receive funds to pay for transport and accommodation during their time at college.
According to Ehlanzeni’s communications officer, Mr Nxolisi Mzimande, the policy works one of two ways: there should either be a controlled system according to which the service providers are paid, or the funds should be paid directly into the students’ personal accounts and they pay for the services themselves.
Because the college does not have a set system in place, all students are instructed to apply for a personal bank account into which the monthly allowance will be paid. However, this would be a costly and unmanageable system, said Mzimande.
“NSFAS and the department then decided we should rather pay the service providers, like the bus companies, directly in order to save money. This is what upset the students. They would rather receive the funds and pay for the services themselves.”
Mzimande explained that more than 80 per cent of the students attended the college on a bursary. But if the system favoured by them was implemented this year, the number would drop substantially to 40 or 50 per cent due to the administrative costs and the savings on which the college would miss out. Another risk was that students would spend the allowance, paid by NSFAS, on personal expenses, he said.
Yet, following the protest, the college, the DHET and NSFAS had agreed to pay the money into the students’ accounts for now. “If it does not work out, we will have to reconsider its implementation.”
