Hon Chairperson, hon members, fellow South Africans, this crisis of higher education is attributed by many shortcomings and faults that are not only limited to bursary or student loan funding. One of these shortcomings is evidently within the department itself and how it manages oversight relationships with 84 entities that report directly to the Minister. The key words here are effective oversight.
The 21 sector education and training authorities or Setas, together receive about R15 billion, many of them having been put under administration. A fate experienced by the National Student Financial Aid Scheme, NSFAS, as well, these Setas have been rendered unsuccessful and gave received negative Auditor-General reports.
Minister, the realignment and reprepared Setas that you have mentioned in your speech should have been done already. Many of the 50 TVET colleges in South Africa are failing, sometimes operating with little regard for the Public Finance Management Act. Minister, more resources into TVET colleges and norms and standards for community colleges are welcomed, but the focus should also be on proper management thereof, otherwise it won't help us.
Not all our universities are up to scratch. The University of Fort Hare in the Eastern Cape is also under administration. The problem here lies in the fact that we have a department that is only sometimes responding to a failing entity once the damage is already done. What happened to proactive measures to prevent these entities from crashing in the first place? It seems like a case of treating a symptom but not the cause.
This comes back to the lack of effective oversight by the department. You have a willing Parliament, including a dedicated Official Opposition in the DA who are ready to enact oversight over the department and its respective entities - yet the annual performance plans or APPs of these entities are not presented to the respective oversight committees.
The preparation of young South Africans wanting to enter the tertiary education environment after finishing high school is also an area of great distress. Minister, when will the announced skills master plan and critical skills list with the career development resources that you have mentioned be completed and implemented. In the meantime, many of those who are lucky enough to get into a tertiary education institution, are often confronted with a workload and standard of examination that is completely above their capabilities.
This is not because they are academically challenged but because basic education schools have failed in preparing young South Africans for this new environment. This only results in troubling dropout rates, leaving the Department of Higher Education scratching their heads, wondering where it all went wrong. Minister, this requires co-ordination and collaboration between you and your department with the Minister of the Department of Basic Education to find responsive solutions to repeated trend.
Minister, you should further find time to engage with the Minister of Police. Not only do thousands of students have to contend with delayed payments of money from NSFAS for their books, meals and travel allowances but also must bear the brunt of crime in and
around university campuses. Students, especially female students are often harassed or even raped when travelling from university to their off-campus residences at night. Why on top of trying to stay ahead of their studies, should students also worry about their own safety?
Hon Minister, you said you will focus on gender-based violence, the select committee will monitor this undertaking. These are credible challenges faced and endured by the average student. Urgent solutions from your department are necessary. Minister, some of the measures you can execute to improve the quality of tertiary education is to drive the reform the outdated syllabus in order to offer and teach technical, artisanry and innovative skills - some of which you have mentioned in your speech - that are in demand in the current market; invest more in quality infrastructure - this includes lecture rooms, libraries, ICT centres and residences; audit all TVET college lecturers to ensure they have the necessary qualifications, and most importantly, the knowledge to lecture on the concerned subject; ensure NSFAS allocates bursaries and allowances on time to the universities and colleges so that students can proceed with their studies without delay; investigate all corrupt officials and reported activities in our institutions to
ensure that these institutions can work more effectively in the future for the students.
Minister, the prerequisite for the dream of learning centres at all municipalities is clean, capacitated and effective financial governance within a growing economy. That is something that the NCOP cannot ensure but that is something that you should take up with your colleague, the Minister of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs within the cabinet and ensure that it happens, otherwise, that will stay a dream.
It is on you Minister ... [Time expired.] ... to not tell students they must fall, but rather tell them that their futures are important to government and South Africa. I thank you.