Thursday 15 August marked day three of protests by Eastcape Midlands College students in Grahamstown over funding cuts they say have left them out on the street.
Thursday 15 August marked day three of protests by Eastcape Midlands College students in Grahamstown over funding cuts they say have left them out on the street.
Funding for study, transport and accommodation has been stopped for 191 students whose first semester results didn't meet performance criteria. The students are all taking semester courses in business-related studies such as financial management, human resources management, management assistance and business management.
Their study fees, transport and accommodation were all covered for the first semester. Things changed in the second semester, however, when the school told them that their funds had been used up.
The funding comes from National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) bursaries. Accommodation costs are paid directly to landlords. A decision taken in a meeting held by the College's financial aid committee earlier this month has left the students without financial support for the second semester.
The decisions taken at the meeting were that N5/N6 students who passed four subjects would get funding for tuition and accommodation.
N5/N6 students who passed three subjects would get funding only for tuition. N4 students will also get their tuition fees paid.
Students claim that landlords have evicted them as a result of these cuts. Human resources student Andiswa Sihluku, from Alice, said she doesn't have any where else to go and can't afford to rent a flat.
Lungile Mxube, the managing director of Frontier Hotel which houses 45 students from the College, has rubbished the allegations.
He said the students were still living there. He produced an attendance register of people who had eaten breakfast on Wednesday and Thursday. He said they were students from the College.
Mzukisi Twani said he had paid for his own studies and the strike was affecting him badly. He said he was worried that he would perform badly in his the exams because of missed classes.
Regional representative of the South African Students' Congress (Sasco) Matthew Mkeleni said they would continue with the strike, as long as the dispute with school management continued.
Mkeleni said they had opted to strike based on management's resistance to sitting down with them to discuss a way forward. Grocott's Mail tried several times to get comments from the school's management without success.
