By Charmaine Ndlela

The University of Cape Town (UCT) has been placed on the global scientific stage after Professor Liesl Zühlke was named the 2026 laureate for Africa and the Arab States in the prestigious UNESCO-Foundation L’Oréal For Women in Science International Awards.

Zühlke was recognised for her ground-breaking research aimed at improving care for children living with cardiovascular disease, particularly rheumatic heart disease (RHD), a preventable illness that continues to disproportionately affect poor and vulnerable communities.

She is one of only five global laureates selected from a record 504 nominations across 89 countries and will receive the award at UNESCO headquarters in Paris on 11 June.

For Zühlke, who is a clinician-scientist and vice-president of the South African Medical Research Council, the recognition is both personal and symbolic for African science.

“I am deeply humbled by this award,” she said.

“To me, personally, it is an affirmation that our work – to conduct, support, advance and empower children’s heart disease research in Africa – has been recognised and has made a meaningful impact.”

She said she hoped the award would place greater focus on African women in science and inspire young researchers across the continent.

“I hope this recognition will draw greater attention to the contributions of African women scientists and underscore the importance of women in science. Above all, I hope it inspires those embarking on a career in science to see that it is possible to pursue this path in a way that is authentic, compassionate and deeply fulfilling.”

For decades, Zühlke’s work has challenged the global understanding of rheumatic heart disease, arguing that it is not merely a medical condition but one deeply tied to poverty and inequality.

“Rheumatic heart disease is, at its core, a disease of poverty, inequity and injustice,” she said.

“It has been eradicated in high-income countries, yet it remains 100% preventable.”

She highlighted the harsh realities faced by many African patients, including painful long-term injections and limited access to life-saving surgery.

Despite her international acclaim, Zühlke said it is the stories of patients she has treated over the years that continue to drive her work.

“So many of my patients stay with me – their faces, their stories and the lessons I have learnt along the way,” she said.

The award also recognised Zühlke’s commitment to mentorship, leadership and scientific capacity-building across Africa.

She described UCT as both her academic home and a place closely connected to her personal journey.

“I completed my undergraduate degree in medicine, my MPH and my PhD here,” she said.

“As a child walking in Mowbray, I would look up to the university and dream of the opportunity to study there, so it holds deep personal meaning for me.”

Part of her doctoral research was conducted in Langa and Bonteheuwel, communities close to where she grew up, helping ground her work in the lived realities of families most affected by cardiovascular disease.

Zühlke credited UCT and its network of researchers and clinicians for supporting the globally recognised work that ultimately led to the award.

“The support and academic home that UCT has provided has been invaluable,” she said.

“The Children’s Heart Disease Research Unit members, past and present, as well as colleagues in the Departments of Paediatrics, Paediatric Cardiology, Cardiology and Medicine, have my particular thanks and appreciation.”

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By Lebone Rodah Mosima

Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube has said that South Africa’s ability to prepare young people for work, citizenship and innovation depends on whether children learn to read, count and reason in their earliest years of schooling.

Speaking at the launch of the South African Education Accelerator, in partnership with the World Economic Forum, in the Western Cape on Thursday, Gwarube said the country had to build a stronger coalition between business, government and society to prepare young people for the future economy.

The launch was co-chaired by Gwarube and Phuthi Mahanyele-Dabengwa, Group Executive Director of Naspers and Prosus.

“The future does not begin when a young person enters the labour market. The future begins when a child learns to read, count, reason and dream,” Gwarube said.

She said Africa was standing on the edge of a profound demographic transition, with one in every four people on Earth expected to be African by 2050 and the continent set to have the largest working-age population in human history by the end of the century.

“A youthful population can become a dividend or a disaster. The difference is education,” she said.

Gwarube told the story of two ten-year-olds, Lindiwe and Nelson, who were equally bright, curious and deserving, but whose early learning experiences were sharply different.

“Lindiwe attended a quality Early Childhood Development Centre. She was read to from the age of two, exposed to books at home, and supported by trained ECD practitioners who could identify learning gaps early,” she said.

“By age ten, she reads fluently with understanding. She solves mathematics problems confidently. She asks questions. She experiments. She dreams boldly about becoming an engineer one day.”

Nelson, she said, did not have access to quality ECD.

“When he is supposed to start his first formal lesson, his teacher first has to teach him how to hold a pencil,” Gwarube said.

“He encounters structured literacy for the first time when he enters our school gates. He struggles to read for meaning in the Foundation Phase.”

“By age ten, he cannot yet fully engage with mathematics concepts because the language of learning itself remains a barrier. Slowly, confidence gives way to frustration.”

Gwarube said the curriculum moved ahead while Nelson fell behind, even though he would later still be expected to take on gateway subjects such as Mathematics, Science, Accounting, Engineering, AI and green economy skills.

“These two children will experience Africa’s demographic transition very differently,” she said.

“Lindiwe will experience opportunity and participate in the modern economy. Nelson risks exclusion and disconnection from it entirely.”

Gwarube said foundational learning was not one priority among many, but the priority that made all other priorities possible.

“AI, coding, advanced manufacturing, green energy, entrepreneurship, technical education and vocational training all rest on one foundation: a child who can read, reason, calculate, communicate and keep learning,” she said.

She said a child who reads with understanding can teach herself new knowledge, while a child who understands numbers begins to understand patterns and problems.

“Foundational numeracy is not simply about numbers in the early grades. It is the beginning of South Africa’s Mathematics and STEM pipeline, and of the technical, digital and scientific pathways our young people must enter,” Gwarube said.

“A child who loses confidence in numbers at seven may never choose Mathematics at fifteen.”

She said early numeracy opened the first gate to the future economy, which was why the administration had placed foundational literacy and numeracy at the centre of reform.

“That is why this administration has placed foundational literacy and numeracy at the centre of reform: reading benchmarks in all official languages through the Funda Uphumelele National Survey; stronger teacher coaching, structured pedagogy, and Early Childhood Development, so that every child can thrive by five,” she said.

Gwarube said the Accelerator would bring partners together around two connected streams of work.

The first would focus on foundational numeracy research, because early mathematics begins South Africa’s Mathematics, STEM and technical skills pipeline.

The second would focus on multiple learning pathways through Focus Schools, because strong foundations must lead into credible technical, vocational, digital, entrepreneurial and workplace-linked opportunities.

“Government cannot do this alone,” Gwarube said.

“The future is shaped by industry, labour markets, communities and families. Schools cannot prepare children for a world they are disconnected from.”

She said business could not wait at the end of the pipeline and complain about skills that had not been built, while philanthropy had to strengthen the system rather than create parallel projects.

“The future demands co-creation: evidence, alignment, investment behind what works, and priorities pursued with urgency and accountability,” she said.

“We need employers, universities, TVET colleges, innovators and schools to design the capabilities our economy needs, informed by real labour market realities.”

Gwarube said the second stream of the Accelerator would strengthen Focus Schools as credible routes into technical, vocational, digital, agricultural, arts, engineering, entrepreneurship and workplace-linked opportunities.

Through the Accelerator, she said, the department would work with industry partners to match expertise to relevant subjects, connect Focus Schools to workplace exposure, and support teachers and learners with the tools, equipment and practical experience these pathways require.

“We want these schools to become living bridges between the classroom and the economy – places where talent is not only discovered, but developed, directed and dignified,” she said.

“These cannot be second-class routes. They must be rigorous, respected, connected to real opportunity, and built on strong foundations.”

Gwarube called on partners to support both arms of the initiative: building the evidence base for stronger foundational numeracy and strengthening Focus Schools as credible pathways into opportunity.

“No company can flourish sustainably where children cannot read, young people cannot access opportunity, and education is disconnected from the economy it serves,” she said.

“Education is not charity. It is economic strategy, nation-building and an investment in the future workforce, future innovator and future citizen.”

She said South Africa had to become far more intentional about building an education-to-employment ecosystem.

“We need artisans, technicians, software developers, healthcare workers, renewable energy specialists, and young people with the skills to build industries still emerging,” she said.

But Gwarube said multiple pathways did not mean lower expectations.

“They mean more doors,” she said.

“What matters is that every pathway is credible, dignified, rigorous and connected to real opportunity.”

She said a strong society could not succeed by producing only one kind of graduate, but had to help every young person discover a pathway that matched their talent, effort and purpose.

“The artisan still needs mathematics. The coder still needs reading comprehension. The entrepreneur still needs problem-solving, communication and confidence,” she said.

“Foundations are not the opposite of future skills. They make future skills possible.”

Gwarube said children in Grade 1 today would inherit either an Africa of prosperity or an Africa of missed opportunity.

“So we must move beyond pilots that never scale, beyond fragmented interventions, and beyond working in silos,” she said.

“The clock is ticking. The child cannot wait.”

She announced that the Department of Basic Education, with its partners, would undertake research on Foundation Phase mathematics performance, including the relationship between mother-tongue instruction and mathematical understanding.

“We need to understand how children acquire mathematical reasoning, how language shapes conceptual learning, and how to help more learners build confidence with numbers early,” Gwarube said.

“Because if we are serious about the future economy, we must become serious about mathematics achievement at scale.”

She thanked the World Economic Forum team, the Department of Basic Education team and the Gates Foundation for making the launch possible.

“Today, through the South African Education Accelerator, we are not simply launching a programme. We are making a promise,” Gwarube said.

“That foundational learning will sit at the centre of reform. That multiple pathways will be credible, dignified and connected to opportunity. That government, business and society will act with shared purpose.”

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Staff Reporter

The North West Department of Education and Matlosana Local Municipality have sent engineering teams to Laerskool Stilfontein, near Klerksdorp, after a suspected sinkhole was detected on the school grounds.

The department said on Thursday that the possible sinkhole was first observed on Monday, after the school groundsman noticed unusual ground subsidence near a classroom block in the early hours of the morning.

He immediately alerted school management, and learners were moved to a safe place as a precaution.

ALSO READ: Student debt at SA universities hits R59bn despite NSFAS funding

The department and municipality then held urgent meetings to find a solution to the problem, according to a press statement. Both institutions brought in independent engineers to assess the problem.

North West Education MEC Viola Motsumi said the safety of learners and staff remained the department’s top priority.

“As a department, we are aware of the sinkhole threat experienced at the school and our priority is to ensure the safety of learners and staff. We want to applaud the school management for ensuring that everyone was safe after the threat was identified. We have kept the learners at home until we know exactly what problem we are facing.

“We also want to commend our teachers who are ensuring that learners do not fall behind in their studies. Teachers are continuing to run lessons via WhatsApp and other platforms. This situation is particularly concerning because learners are due to start their mid-year examinations next week,” said Motsumi.

ALSO READ: Judgment reserved in Mabuyane-Malema defamation case over Fort Hare claims

The department said it was still waiting for the engineers’ report, which would determine the seriousness of the situation.

Motsumi said alternative space at nearby schools and churches was being considered.

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By Thapelo Molefe

Student debt at South African universities has climbed to R59bn despite billions of rand spent annually through the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS), Parliament heard on Wednesday during a briefing on the worsening financial pressures facing the higher education sector.

The debt crisis emerged during presentations by the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) and Universities South Africa (USAf) to Parliament’s portfolio committee on higher education.

USAf chief executive Phethiwe Matutu said nearly half the debt was linked to NSFAS-funded students.

“The major contributor to that debt are the NSFAS-funded students, contributing R29 billion,” Matutu told MPs.

She said self-funded students accounted for 44% of outstanding debt, while irrecoverable debt stood at about R12 billion.

The briefing raised questions over how universities had accumulated such high debt levels despite substantial state investment in student financial aid.

Portfolio committee chairperson Tebogo Letsie described the figures as alarming.

“Very worrying there,” Letsie said after the presentation.

“We’ll need to know how we got to that point when we discuss how NSFAS-funded students owe our institutions almost half of total debt.”

DHET officials said one of the main drivers of the crisis was the unresolved NSFAS reconciliation and close-out process between universities and the scheme, with some disputes dating back to 2017.

Universities warned that unresolved NSFAS balances were placing some institutions under pressure from auditors.

Matutu said the NSFAS accommodation cap had further deepened the crisis by leaving students liable for accommodation costs above the scheme’s limits.

Universities also cited unemployment, household financial distress, historic debt accumulation and academic exclusions as factors worsening debt levels.

Officials warned that universities had become increasingly dependent on tuition fees as government subsidies accounted for a shrinking share of institutional income.

DHET said subsidies and grants made up 43.7% of university income in 2020, falling to 36.4% by 2024, while tuition and accommodation fees increased as a proportion of university revenue.

The department said gross student debt had risen from R16.5 billion in 2020 to R24 billion in 2024 in audited figures, while impaired debt had increased to more than R15 billion.

Officials warned that nearly two-thirds of university debt was now impaired, meaning institutions believed a large portion would never be fully recovered.

Universities also told MPs that growing debt was affecting student success and graduation rates, as many students were blocked from registering for new academic years because of unpaid fees.

The sector warned that the crisis threatened the long-term sustainability of universities and was forcing some institutions to rely heavily on debt collection measures and alternative income streams.

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By Thapelo Molefe

The Eastern Cape High Court has reserved judgment in an urgent defamation case brought by Eastern Cape premier Oscar Mabuyane against Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema over remarks relating to Mabuyane’s academic record.

The dispute centres on comments Malema made outside a magistrate’s court in KuGompo City in April, where he alleged Mabuyane had “stolen” a master’s degree from the University of Fort Hare.

Mabuyane approached the court on an urgent basis after demanding that Malema retract the remarks and apologise. He is seeking an order declaring the statements defamatory and unlawful, and to bar Malema from repeating them.

Arguing for Mabuyane before Judge Johannes Willem Eksteen on Tuesday, advocate Mfundo Salukazana said Malema’s remarks carried the implication that the premier had committed fraud.

“The sting lies in the criminal offence of fraudulently obtaining the degree,” Salukazana argued.

He said Mabuyane had never obtained or claimed to hold a master’s degree and therefore could not have “stolen” one.

“It hasn’t been demonstrated where he’s ever claimed to have a master’s degree, and therefore one cannot steal that which he’s never possessed or claimed to possess,” he told the court.

Salukazana also argued that Malema had misrepresented findings contained in a 2021 forensic investigation into Mabuyane’s registration and subsequent deregistration from the university’s master’s programme.

Court arguments indicated that Malema’s defence rests partly on a forensic report compiled after questions were raised about Mabuyane’s registration, including allegations that aspects of his thesis work may have involved ghostwriting.

Salukazana maintained that the report did not conclude that Mabuyane had fraudulently obtained a degree.

“What we’ve come to court about is whether or not the statement that he stole a master’s degree and therefore defrauded the university in how he obtained the master’s degree is false, and we submit that it is,” he said.

For Malema, advocate Mfesane Ka-Siboto argued that the EFF leader’s comments were based on existing findings and media reports and therefore constituted fair comment.

“This report came out in 2021. At no point does he seek to bring that report under review,” Ka-Siboto told the court.

He said Mabuyane could not now rely on urgency when the forensic findings had been in the public domain for years.

“If he was genuinely concerned about his name being impugned in relation to the master’s degree, then certainly he should have thought to have that report reviewed and set aside,” Ka-Siboto said.

The court also heard that Mabuyane has filed a separate application to review and set aside the university’s decision to deregister him from the programme. That matter is due to be heard on 18 June.

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Des Erasmus

Half of South Africa’s households receive social grants, according to the latest General Household Survey.

Released by Stats SA on Tuesday, the survey found that grants reached 39.5% of individuals and 50.6% of households in 2025, while 24.4% of households relied on grants as their main source of income.

The increase in grant coverage accelerated after the introduction of the special COVID-19 Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant in 2020, which was initially designed to temporarily cushion income losses during the pandemic.

ALSO READ: Cele, Tolashe among five ANC members to face disciplinary action

Salaries and wages remained the main income source for 54.3% of households, but the figures show how heavily South Africa’s tax-funded safety net is supporting households in an economy that has struggled to generate jobs and income.

The survey tracks basic service delivery, healthcare, education, agriculture, household composition, income, food access, water, sanitation, energy, and refuse removal.

It showed that food insecurity remained severe, with many households still unable to secure enough food despite widespread access to grants.

“Almost one quarter (22,0%) of households considered their access to food as inadequate or severely inadequate,” the report said.

That was 4.2 percentage points higher than in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic, with the Northern Cape worst affected at 43.0% and Limpopo lowest at 6.1%.

The findings come despite improvements in basic service delivery since 2002. Access to improved sanitation increased from 61.7% in 2002 to 84.0% in 2025, while access to mains electricity increased from 76.7% to 90.6%.

Almost nine in 10 households had access to piped water in a dwelling, yard or communal tap.

ALSO READ: Ramaphosa files court bid to review Phala Phala panel report

But rural households lag far behind urban households in access to waste services.

“Access to refuse removal services highlights ongoing inequality,” the report said.

The survey found that 84.9% of urban households received regular refuse removal, compared with only 13.0% of rural households. It also found that 84.7% of households reported burning waste, while just 10.5% separated recyclable material.

Health access remained deeply unequal, with medical aid still out of reach for most households.

“Medical aid coverage remained relatively unchanged at 15,5%,” the report said.

Coverage was highest in the Western Cape at 25.9% and Gauteng at 22.1%, and lowest in Limpopo at 8.2% and KwaZulu-Natal at 9.5%.

The survey also showed growing social pressure on children and households. Fewer than one-third of children lived with both biological parents in 2025, while 45.9% lived with their mothers only, 18.5% lived with neither parent and 11.2% had lost one or both parents.

ALSO READ: How Matlala talks with state could shake SAPS leadership

Female-headed households accounted for 42.6% of all households, increasing to 47.6% in rural areas.

According to the report, the share of adults with no education fell from 11.4% in 2002 to 2.6% in 2025, while those with at least a National Senior Certificate increased from 30.7% to 53.5%.

But early childhood development remained uneven, with only 36.3% of children aged 0 to four attending ECD facilities, while 50.2% were cared for at home.

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Staff Reporter

Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube has warned that cash-strapped provincial education departments are beginning to buckle, forcing the state to redirect money from early childhood development (ECD) to keep compulsory Grade R reforms alive.

South Africa is trying to implement the Basic Education Laws Amendment Act, which makes Grade R attendance compulsory.

At the same time, it is battling teacher-post placements, infrastructure backlogs and a literacy crisis in which 81% of Grade 4 learners could not read for meaning in any language in the 2021 PIRLS assessment.

“Aligning qualified Grade R practitioner salaries with Foundation Phase educators, while appointing additional Grade R teachers, will cost approximately R10 billion over the Medium Term,” Gwarube told Parliament during her Budget Vote speech.

“National Treasury has not allocated the full funding required. We have therefore redirected R800 million from the ECD Grant to address immediate Grade R pressures. This is not ideal, but doing nothing would be worse.”

The Department of Basic Education’s 2026/27 allocation is R38.2 billion, including R32.7 billion for conditional grants. Those include almost R11 billion for school nutrition, R16 billion for school infrastructure, R4.6 billion for early childhood development, R477 million for mathematics, science and technology, and R307 million for learners with disabilities.

Treasury has said the ECD grant receives an additional R12.8 billion over three years to expand access to an estimated 300,000 more children and maintain the R24 per child per day subsidy introduced in 2025/26.

But Gwarube’s speech made clear that national allocations are not keeping pace with the full cost of implementation in provinces, where most schooling delivery takes place.

“The learner must not become the shock absorber for provincial cash-flow failures,” she said.

Gwarube said financial risks previously identified in provincial education departments were now “materialising in KwaZulu-Natal, the Free State and the Northern Cape, with others under growing pressure”.

She announced a “Multi-disciplinary Recovery Technical Support Team” to support provinces on budget planning, financial analysis and school resourcing.

“When provincial education finances fail, learners suffer first,” she said.

In September 2024, Gwarube said a financial analysis she had initiated projected that three provincial education departments would fall into the red by 2025/26, increasing to four by 2026/27 and seven in the outer year of the medium-term spending period.

The Northern Cape later told Parliament it had a R358 million shortfall on declared posts, equivalent to 663 educator posts, including 51 Grade R practitioners for which funding had not been provided by the provincial treasury.

Gwarube put the funding fight at the centre of South Africa’s attempt to break entrenched inequality before children reach formal schooling.

“Over 90% of South African children are Nelsons and not Lindiwes,” she said, referring to two fictional 10-year-olds in her speech — one who had access to structured early childhood development and one who did not. “This is the education injustice of our time”.

The latest Thrive by Five Index found that 68% of South Africa’s four-year-olds live below the upper-bound poverty line, 37% live below the food poverty line, and about 29% were not attending any group learning programme in 2024.

Gwarube said more than 13,300 ECD centres had been registered in the past year, exceeding a 10,000-centre target. She said ECD registration had grown by 200% between 2021 and 2026, giving more than 1.2 million children access to registered ECD programmes.

She also announced that an ECD nutrition pilot had entered implementation, with the contract advertised in March 2026 and centres in the Eastern Cape expected to be piloted soon. She said the programme responded to Thrive by Five findings that 7% of South African children were stunted because of malnutrition.

Gwarube said the department would rank provinces using a “quality basket” instead of relying mainly on the matric pass rate.

The basket will include the overall pass percentage, bachelor passes, distinctions, participation and performance in gateway subjects such as mathematics, physical sciences and accounting, and learner retention.

“[F]or too long, the national conversation on quality has been reduced to a single percentage – the national pass rate or the misleading myth of a 30% pass mark,” she said.

Gwarube also said 10,000 Foundation Phase teachers would receive targeted literacy and numeracy training this year, while the department refreshes implementation of the National Reading Literacy Strategy.

She said the Funza Lushaka bursary programme had shifted more strongly toward Foundation Phase education, with 55% of bursaries allocated to that phase in 2026, up from 42% in 2025.

Gwarube announced an independent external investigation into the Foundation Phase National Catalogue process, saying concerns about procurement for Grade 1 to 3 learning materials were serious enough to require outside scrutiny.

She said Treasury’s consideration of the matter had been inconclusive, but had raised concern about whether the department’s deviation from ordinary competitive bidding processes was lawfully justified and properly supported by the required records, reasons and approvals.

“Corruption in education is never victimless. And neither is weak governance,” Gwarube said. “Both are ultimately paid for by children.”

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By Thapelo Molefe

Higher Education and Training Minister Buti Manamela says Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs) must be held to stricter performance standards and brought closer to employers.

Delivering his Budget Vote in the National Assembly on Tuesday, Manamela said SETAs should no longer operate mainly as funding administrators but must demonstrate clear results in linking training to employment.

“The problem is that the link between education, skills, work and industrial development is too weak, and in some places it is broken,” he said.

ALSO READ: Gondwe calls for NSFAS to be scrapped, Manamela says current model unsustainable

He said that SETAs will be required to sign employer compacts covering at least 30% of employers in their sectors, aimed at increasing private sector participation in training and workplace placement.

Manamela also introduced a target that 70% of SETA service level agreements must be met, with stronger enforcement where institutions fail to comply.

“The private sector cannot remain a spectator to skills development,” he said.

“The skills levy is not a tax. It is an investment. And investors expect a return.”

Skills development levies are projected at R27.7 billion in 2026/27, rising to R31.1 billion by 2028/29.

Manamela said SETAs will also be integrated into regional industrial skills compacts that bring together employers, municipalities and training institutions to align skills planning with local economic needs.

Deputy Higher Education and Training Minister Mimmy Gondwe took a more hardline position, saying the current SETA system should be replaced entirely with a model where employers directly procure training from accredited institutions.

Gondwe said the current skills development system was failing to produce employment outcomes for young people despite significant public spending.

“The current skills development regime is failing to produce the employment outcomes our economy and young people urgently require,” she said.

She said that employers are better placed than government intermediaries to determine skills needs and should take greater responsibility for training outcomes.

ALSO READ: Shoprite, Trevor Noah foundations launch robotics lab at Soweto school

Under her proposal, companies would directly source training from accredited providers, supported through tax incentives rather than the current levy-based system.

Manamela did not propose scrapping SETAs, but said government was open to wide-ranging reforms depending on performance and outcomes.

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By Lebone Rodah Mosima

At least 65,000 learners stayed away from schools in parts of Mangaung on Monday as a shutdown over service delivery and other grievances disrupted teaching and learning across the metro, the Free State Department of Education said.

The department said preliminary reports from the Mangaung Metropolitan Education District showed learner attendance had fallen dramatically in Mangaung township, Heidedal and Botshabelo, with schools in Mangaung township and Heidedal worst affected.

The shutdown came amid heightened tension in parts of the country over service delivery, unemployment and undocumented foreign nationals.

SABC reported that the Mangaung shutdown, called by the National Service Delivery Forum, had by Monday morning spread to the looting of foreign-owned shops, with about 100 people arrested.

In Mangaung township schools, only 5,280 of 38,110 enrolled learners attended classes, an attendance rate of 13%, while 860 of 1,248 educators reported for duty.

Heidedal schools recorded similar learner attendance, with 2,226 of 17,631 learners at school. Educator attendance there stood at 84%.

Botshabelo schools were less severely affected, with 30,082 of 47,417 learners attending, or 63%. The department said 1,225 of 1,513 educators in Botshabelo reported for duty.

Free State Education MEC Dr Mamiki Maboya said children should not be made to carry the cost of community protests.

“Our children are not party to the matters giving rise to this shutdown, yet they are among those most affected. While communities have a constitutional right to express their concerns, we appeal that schools and learners be protected from unintended disruption,” Maboya said.

“The long-term cost of lost teaching and learning time is one we can ill afford, particularly at a time when we are working collectively to improve educational outcomes.”

The department said schools in the town area, including former Model C schools, also recorded reduced learner attendance despite relatively strong educator turnout.

Navalsig Secondary School recorded 26% learner attendance, with 276 of 1,089 learners present, while educator attendance stood at 92%. HTS Louis Botha recorded 47% learner attendance, with 524 of 1,110 learners present, and 94% educator attendance. Roseview Primary School recorded 32% learner attendance, with 420 of 1,298 learners present, and 85% educator attendance.

The department said it respected the constitutional right to lawful protest, but warned that schools should remain protected spaces during periods of social contestation.

“Every effort must be made to ensure that the constitutional right to protest is exercised in a manner that does not inadvertently compromise the equally important constitutional right of children to access basic education,” it said.

Section 29 of the Constitution guarantees everyone the right to basic education. The department appealed to community leaders, protest organisers, parents and residents to help keep schools open and ensure learners can access education safely.

“The education of our children is a shared societal responsibility. We therefore appeal for collective understanding and cooperation to ensure that learners are able to return to school and continue with the academic programme without further interruption. Our province and country depend on an educated, skilled and empowered generation,” Maboya said.

The department said it had activated academic recovery measures at affected schools, including curriculum rescheduling, afternoon classes, Saturday programmes, winter school support where necessary, and targeted support from district officials and subject advisers.

It said it would continue monitoring the situation and engaging stakeholders to support the restoration of normal schooling.

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By Thapelo Molefe

Deputy Higher Education and Training Minister Mimmy Gondwe has called for the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) to be scrapped and replaced with a new university-driven funding system, while Higher Education Minister Buti Manamela warned that the current student funding model is financially unsustainable.

Delivering the Higher Education and Training budget vote debate in Parliament on Tuesday, Gondwe said NSFAS had repeatedly failed students and institutions and should no longer remain the country’s central student funding mechanism.

“There is no longer a need for NSFAS. NSFAS has repeatedly failed, and it is time to replace it with a student funding model which sees our higher education institutions themselves select students and assess their financial needs and then apply directly to National Treasury,” Gondwe said.

She said the Post School Education and Training (PSET) sector should be judged not by enrolment numbers, but by whether graduates leave institutions with employable skills and pathways into work.

She said that universities should take direct responsibility for determining students’ financial needs and managing applications for tuition and living allowances.

Gondwe said the replacement funding model should place greater emphasis on science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), occupations in high demand and scarce skills needed by the economy.

Her remarks came as youth unemployment among people aged 15 to 24 remains at 60.9%.

“This is not merely an economic crisis. It is a national crisis and a ticking time bomb,” Gondwe told Parliament.

“The true measure of the success of the PSET sector cannot simply be about how many young people enter into our institutions, but whether those young people leave our institutions with the skills and training that is needed and demanded by our economy,” she said.

While Gondwe called for NSFAS to be dismantled, Manamela stopped short of endorsing the proposal but acknowledged that the current funding model could not continue in its present form.

Speaking during a media briefing before tabling the department’s R149.2 billion budget vote, Manamela said government was discussing long-term reforms to student funding.

“The model as it stands now is unsustainable,” Manamela said.

“Year after year after year, we’ve been going to Treasury saying to them, give us more money.”

Earlier this month, Manamela placed NSFAS under administration, citing governance instability, legal concerns and operational failures at the institution.

He confirmed that discussions were under way within Cabinet about the future of NSFAS and other student funding reforms.

“There is no proposal that is off the table,” Manamela said.

The minister said government was trying to find a sustainable model that would support poor students as well as the “missing middle”, students who do not qualify for NSFAS grants but still cannot afford higher education.

Manamela also pointed to rising student debt at universities, saying estimates ranged between R18 billion and R26 billion.

“The fact that we’ve got such a huge figure in terms of student debt shows that the demand for student loans is high,” he said.

Manamela said government had already moved to stabilise the scheme.

“Where the institution fell short of the public trust placed in it, we acted within the law to restore order.”

The minister also defended government’s interventions in higher education entities, saying accountability and oversight would be tightened across the sector.

“We will defend institutional autonomy, but we will not confuse autonomy with impunity,” he said.

INSIDE EDUCATION

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