Friday, July 17, 2009

Bursary funds allocations to be investigated, says minister

By Ofentse Mokae
17 July 2009

Minister for Higher Education and Training Dr Blade Nzimande says he plans to set up a national review commission to probe how money is allocated for bursaries.

He was addressing an academic seminar on racism in Cape Town yesterday.

Nzimande said it is unacceptable that about 21 billion rands in training assistance money has not been spent.

He proposed using some of the turn over in the National Skills Fund to help poor students.

Nzimande pointed out that he has no intention to ransack the skills fund, but says he believes that there is an urgent need to rethink funding for higher education as a whole.

He said a student bank to fill the gaps not covered by the troubled National Students Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) was being considered.

On the issue of racism faced at some universities, Nzimande said while South Africa had made tremendous strides in transforming itself to democratic values, discrimination in all its manifestations had not been expunged.

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