A tender to supply NSFAS students with laptops was cancelled last month and a new one published after a slew of corruption allegations arose. Picture: iStock
The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) called on the department of higher education to provide digital learning devices for all students who could not afford to carry on with classes amid the lockdown.
The party said it was clear that all previously “white universities or institutions” had managed to proceed with their curriculum despite the lockdown.
“This is because the majority of these institutions drew from their apartheid attained riches and privilege to forge a pathway for virtual learning under the general conditions imposed by Covid-19.
“All historically black institutions, on the other hand, have been left behind and on their own,” the EFF said in a statement on Tuesday.
The EFF said students and teachers in black institutions had “no apartheid wealth or legacy to draw from”.
“In fact, they already existed in permanent states of poverty, under-resourced and generally overcrowded. It is the duty of a responsible government to look out for the poor and historically disadvantage,” the party said.
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The party said the government should not hesitate to purchase laptops and data for all students in historically black universities so that their learning could also continue virtually.
“There is no justification that simply because a black child does not have access to digital learning equipment, they must suffer a lack of higher education.
“It is the duty of a responsible government always to make sure that learning is never a privilege, but a right equally enjoyed by all. As things stand, the ANC government is at the forefront of dumping a generation of mostly African youth into illiteracy, from grade 1 up to universities.
“Let there be #OneStudentOneLaptop so that virtual learning continues even in historically black institutions,” the EFF concluded.
Some universities in the country including the University of Cape Town issued their students with laptop and data so the academic calendar would continue as some students complained that lectures shouldn’t have resumed under the current circumstances, which make it very hard for students from disadvantaged backgrounds to perform.
During a briefing in April, Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation, Dr Blade Nzimande said the government was developing and implementing effective multi-modal remote learning systems to provide a reasonable level of academic support to all students at all institutions to resume academic learning and teaching support.
“As we are in an unprecedented emergency, we have to use all available tools to reach our students fully cognizant that it will not substitute the need for contact learning when conditions permit. This we will do making sure that no student or institution is left behind,” he said.
(Compiled by Molefe Seeletsa)
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