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Denosa Student Movement supports the #FeesMustFall campaign by students
Media Statement
Thursday 22 October 2015
The Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa (DENOSA) National Student Movement, the student wing of DENOSA, is in full support of the #FeesMustFall campaign that students are embarking on countrywide, against the skyrocketing fees at universities that keep on increasing each year.
We won’t behave normally in an abnormal situation whereby some of these universities would have increased their fees by hundred percent or more within a period of five years.This posture can be simply interpreted as a way of further marginalising the poor who are majority black people by excluding them from accessing knowledge through better education.
Education cannot be made a commodity to be accessed by the elite minority; free quality education should be a reality in our lifetime and as students in this country we should confront this unapologetically. At least the Freedom Charter is on our side.
DENOSA Student Movement calls on both university managers and councils to do a thorough introspection on the modalities they make use of to determine the annual fee increases.
We remain convinced that it is only through education that we can build a better society and defeat poverty. By far the majority of students come from families that are either employed in the public sector or from families that virtually have no income and mostly would heavily rely on the Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) for their children's education.
From a nursing perspective, students who are doing nursing mainly at universities and private nursing colleges experience the same harsh fee increases, particularly students who are not fortunate enough to get funding from government. The bursary system offered by some of the provincial departments of health must also be a thing of the past as it has compromised our nursing students from accessing quality education in both theoretical and practical levels to enable them to respond positively to our health demands and help our people.
From a nursing perspective, students who are doing nursing mainly at universities and private nursing colleges experience the same harsh fee increases, particularly students who are not fortunate enough to get funding from government. The bursary system offered by some of the provincial departments of health must also be a thing of the past as it has compromised our nursing students from accessing quality education in both theoretical and practical levels to enable them to respond positively to our health demands and help our people.
Exposing our students including nursing students to hazardous environments without relevant policies in place should be a thing of the past.We are not ready as a nation to have many drop-outs than graduates from our higher education institutions, which may lead to mental illnesses on these individual students such as depression.
We are not ready as a society to have further social pathologies to the ones we are working hard to control. It is about time that leadership at universities show the nation the empathy towards the majority of students who come from poor families. The fact is that NSFAS gets exhausted way before reaching out to all deserving students.
Our call is free education for first ubdergraduate qualification and that is the only weapon that we can use as a country to change our society and liberate it from the bondages of poverty.
The students of this country are calling for a just course and it is from this background that we call on the police not to carry guns to the striking sites where marchers are unarmed and peaceful.
The nation is not ready to have another tragedy as a result of their brutality on the law-abiding citizens. Students are not criminals and they should never be treated as such. All the men and women in blue are our brothers and sisters, and they are part of our society and communities, and therefore they should be in a better position to understand our frustrations as students. Surely their energies should be directed towards criminals who continue to terrorise our communities day and night.
We call on government to show leadership and lead in resolving this matter urgently. We also call on students at all campuses, including colleges and communities, to fully support this campaign.
We call on government to show leadership and lead in resolving this matter urgently. We also call on students at all campuses, including colleges and communities, to fully support this campaign.
#FeesMustFall
#BursarySystemMustFall
#CommunityServiceMustFall
End
Issued by DENOSA National Student Movement
For more information contact:
Tshepo Monoketsi
National Chairperson
Mobile: 0795015808
Or
Nkululeko Mapaila, National Secretary
Mobile: 0784112856
Website: www.denosa.org.za
Facebook: DENOSA National PageTwitter: DENOSAORG
