Nzimande Receives Mixed Reactions To NSFAS Announcements
The South African Students Congress wants students to be provided with further support following the Minister's announcement that 2021 NSFAS applications will not be reopening.
The South African Students Congress (SASCO) wants students to be provided with further support following the Minister's announcement that 2021 NSFAS applications will not be reopening.
Minister Nzimande announced that no late applications will be accepted for NSFAS this year as they have been overwhelmed with a total of around 750 000 applications having been received.
During his briefing, he made it clear saying, "Given the high numbers of applications received for NSFAS, funding late applications will not be accepted in 2021."
SASCO President, Bamanye Matiwane, has said:
What we are not happy about is the arrogance that the Minister wants to portray in saying that he won't be opening applications for NSFAS. Nonetheless, we can help make strategies to ensure that students apply for NSFAS even if they don't happen. We are not afraid of Dr Blade Nzimande. He must not try and test us.
SASCO is now committed to ensuring that NSFAS processes aren't as slow as they used to be, continued the President, so that students receive their money with immediate effect.
We are not going to back down. That money must be sent straight to students. We are not going to argue and be lenient with Dr Blade Nzimande.
The Congress is however happy when it comes to the Minister's updates on the laptops being given to students through NSFAS.
According to SASCO, a private company wishes to seek an interdict on the delivery of laptops to students. They now want the Minister to step in so that this action does not interfere and further delay the delivery of laptops to students.
The Minister announced in April of last year that NSFAS will be providing students with laptops to make online learning more accessible. After many delays, Nzimande announced on Monday that laptop deliveries should be expected to begin in March.
NSFAS embarked on assessing these applications in December and is still in the process of doing so, aiming to complete the evaluation process in February. This is so that students can know whether they've been funded or not when registration begins.
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