Minister of Higher Education and Training Blade Nzimande will on Friday visit the University of Cape Town (UCT) in the wake of the wildfire that tore through the campus last month.
He’s expected to announce what his department plans to do to help after irreplaceable collections were lost when UCT’s Jagger Library was engulfed in flames.
Nzimande has described the fire as a catastrophic blow to the country’s heritage.
He was presenting his R116 billion budget at a sitting of the National Assembly on Thursday.
The minister said budget cuts would slow down the expansion of post-school education and training, but his department planned to invest billions in providing student accommodation, maintenance, and repairs at historically disadvantaged universities.
Nzimande took flak from opposition parties over fee-free higher education and the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS). He said NSFAS’s approved budget for 2020/21 is R41.5 billion. This excludes an additional R6.4 billion that was approved.
“In the current financial year, NSFAS funding is expected to reach over R43 billion – a further increase of nearly R10 billion in just two years.”
Strengthening the capacity of technical and vocational training (TVETs) colleges is also planned.
Nzimande said 95% of the TVET certification backlog was cleared a month ago.
He said in coming weeks, he would present to Cabinet revised funding options for students, including the missing middle – those who don’t qualify for financial aid but cannot afford tuition fees.
-EWN
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