Student leaders should march to DHET not universities

Student “fanaticism” from modern-day student leaders seems to have lost meaning and degenerated only to be used as a buzz word and a label for some cool politico. Following the brouhaha of events that transpired during the past weeks particularly within our higher education discourse when students from few universities embarked on protest actions in demand of what they term “free tertiary education”, it is important that their approach in insisting that their demands be met, incorrectly so, by university councils be rigorously debated and scrutinised. Are our SRCs and student formations afraid to march directly to the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) and in particular to the minister himself?

It is puzzling why certain SRCs and student formations chose to march to university councils for the failure of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) to approve their loans which would have enabled them to register. If logic and commonsense was to go by, such protests should have been directed to the minister, NSFAS and DHET which are responsible for the administration of higher education in South Africa and not university councils. Does the fact that it is election year maybe matters why student leaders might be reluctant to march to the minister but instead resort to creating exasperating chaos on campuses for seeking attention?

This is not to suggest that university councils are immune of challenges that are prevalent in many of our universities nor do I wish to suggest that financial challenges faced by our students are insignificant. University councils are also to blame for the significant annual increase of tuition fees. This might have slightly fuelled antagonism of these mobs who marched during the past week have on university councils but it does not, in anyway, warrant that NSFAS failures be directed to them.

The truth is that organisers of these protests in various universities have erred on their strategies and tactics. Among others, student leaders seem to be failing to use this opportune moment to convey an important message to their constituencies and educate them about the importance of academic excellence. I say this because academic excellence attracts funding. If many of our students where excelling academically we would not have this backlog of stranded students without funding.

In the interest of responsible leadership, it has become pivotal that we should all assess how modern-day student leaders conduct their protest actions and to who exactly are they suppose to table their demands. This important matter has got to be thoroughly researched, debated, explained and settled with utmost scientific and scholarly rigour.

I say this because; unlike protesters in other sectors such as in the labour sector for example, university students (and student leaders) are uniquely located within a special place in society called a university. It is therefore expected that their conduct, leadership and discipline reflect exactly that – they should act and think like university students.

These poorly orchestrated but well intended protests should also be a learning curve for both university managers and student leaders. To run institutions of higher learning both parties must coexist as reciprocal partners who are decision-makers for the well-being and betterment of all our students.

Students have to have representation on all platforms of the university hence a university cannot be run by managers alone. There must be open communication and university protocols have also got be respected by all in sundry (including student leaders).

It is unfortunate that organisers of these protests missed the mark and aimed their bullets at wrong targets. I maintain that what we should have seen in the past week are all students without financial aid from all twenty three universities across South Africa marching to the DHET headquarters in Tshwane and the minister be forced to accept their demands and commit himself to meet them. Luck was on the side of the minister because he dodged the bullet!