The South African Student Congress (Sasco) is holding its National General Conference this week in Grahamstown.
The South African Student Congress (Sasco) is holding its National General Conference this week in Grahamstown.
Pinda Mofokeng, Provincial Secretary KZN, told Grocott's Mail that the aim of the conference was to review policies and to check how far the congress has gone in terms of implementing resolutions.
There also will be discussions on how to tackle issues such as funding for less fortunate students by the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS). The week-long conference has a programme of dynamic speakers, such as the Minister of Higher Education and Training Blade Nzimande, Buti Manamela and Jessie Duarte.
Mofokeng said that among the items to be discussed were the review of policies and documents that govern tertiary institutions such as NSFAS guidelines and the Department of Higher Education's guidelines.
According to Mofokeng, the aim is is to get the Department of Higher Education and its minister on board to solve some of the problems students encounter, especially with regard to financing their studies.
"The high level of arrogance that's being exhibited by the ministry is not favouring the poor black majority students in the Republic, but we hope that now that we are here we will come up with various ways on how to persuade the ministry and the ruling party to prioritise on higher education," he said.
South Africa needs to invest more in education, especially Higher Education, he said.
"If the country can be able to channel all resources towards the building of stadiums during the time of the world cup in 2010, then why can't we invest more on education?" he asked.
