What fuels student prostests?

Dr Sheetal Bhoola

Universities across South Africa proceed with registration processes and admission during January and February annually and simultaneously we await with anticipation student protests at numerous campuses in the country. During these periods, people’s perceptions of their child’s safety and security are negative, and often the academic calendar is disrupted without much time available to compensate for the lost time during unsafe periods when academic programs are suspended. At times, the protests are peaceful, and in other instances, they can become violent. University management has no option but to suspend the academic programs until the situation is either dissolved by the institution or when the protests have come to an end.

30-years post-democracy, and we are still grappling with issues that are about structures that perpetuate inequality which results in these protests. For instance, one of the key reasons why the protests occur is the fact that students are left without the promised funding from the NSFAS. Often the funding is granted, but not timeously. In addition, fiscal structures within tertiary educational institutions often give students no choice but to apply at a university with a fee involved. This is an expensive task, especially if students select one institution to study at, but tend to apply at three or four institutions. The tendency to apply at multiple institutions has also become a standard practice in South Africa because of the limited number of entry-level seats available for young school leavers in comparison to the high number of applicants that universities receive. The expense in this regard is often utilised for administrative and processing costs, however, it is not appropriate for a country that had begun a democracy in debt and with a highly impoverished society. Sometimes, financial systems at universities fail to acknowledge the payment, and students are expected to pay numerous times to secure their registration. The dysfunctionality often lies with inefficiency within institutions within their administrative segments and their technological systems that.

The second concern is the fact that the NSFAS payment delays have become the cause of much disruption and turmoil. Without the processing of these funds, students who travel to their universities and residences away from their homes struggle to find alternative accommodation and lose out on the introduction to their university curriculums. They often are left homeless and have to resort to other means to attend class. This dysfunctionality among others has been one of the biggest causes that have led students to protest their grievances which in the past has resulted in immediate interventions.

In addition, students also have misconstrued ideas about the impact and the value of the protests. In the past, there were incidents when students participated in unruly protests to claim readmission after being denied access to institutions after failing modules and exams miserably multiple times. Then South Africans also witnessed the protests that were aimed at attaining free education. These protests were unnecessary at the time and resulted in overall destruction at universities. Buildings were damaged and people were hurt during this period which ultimately resulted in minimal changes. The government at that stage, capped the fee increases as a means to meet student demands at the halfway point. NSFAS since then has increased the number of students they financially support, but then too students are expected to meet the meritocracy standards to pass and complete their education. Some protests have failed to meet their purposes and intent, and others have been effective in achieving better platforms to negotiate registration deadlines, payment deadlines, and other regulations that have been modified to accommodate unhappy students. At some universities, the protests have resulted in improved communication platforms between university management and students, whereas in other instances, the protests have only created chaos and mayhem which resulted in the protesters believing that they can influence decision-making processes and teaching and learning regulations at these institutions. The protests have indeed culminated in improved public participatory communication avenues that have resulted in students being heard, but the intended result in many instances was not achieved.

Should we not develop a structured communication format or platform for students to address their concerns at each university? The question we need to ask ourselves is what incident, grievance, and concern motivated the protest. Ideally, protests should be the last and final resort for students and there needs to be a series of discussions that are structurally addressed within a reasonable timeframe before the student representative councils and other departmental student bodies begin to protest. University societies need to curb the prevalence of protests by addressing student concerns timeously and honestly so that we have a society that is free of violence and mayhem. The continual disruptions in the academic calendar need to be avoided at all costs and teaching and learning should be prioritised. This will enable young adults to continue to value the opportunity that they have to be at a tertiary educational place of learning.

*Bhoola is Academic Director of StellarMaths and Academic at The University of Zululand

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