By: Matshidiso Selebeleng
This morning, the University of the Free State, together with student leadership, have agreed that provisional registration will be phased out over a period of two years.
This comes after a weeklong protest conducted by the students to show their dissatisfaction over the decision by the institution to phase out provisional registration.
The violent protests led to extensive damage to university property, where students engaged in acts of vandalism and arson, and left several security officers with injuries and three hospitalised on the Qwaqwa campus.
The university campus has been closed for five days now, and according to spokesperson Lacea Loader, the UFS is the only university in South Africa that permits students to register even when they have outstanding fees.
"This practice reflected the university’s commitment to access to education; however, there are serious concerns about the rising levels of student debt and the growing accumulation, leaving students with unmanageable debt at graduation.
“Along with other factors, the debt levels have reached nearly a billion rand over the past five years,” she said.
But for a student like Noluthando Masha, a student from the UFS, who relies on National Student Financial Aid(NSFAS), this arrangement is a serious concern.
“The first thing that came to my mind is 'how are we going to further our studies as NSFAS dependents, where are we going to get that amount of money by January, because we come from low-class families.
But this reconsideration gives us hope that maybe by the end of these two years, there will be a solution that will not affect students as this one would have,” she said.
But there are students who still think the two-year period is short and want a permanent solution that will not compromise students’ future.
“My perception, based on this agreement, is that our SRC didn't represent the black students well enough. Because, after that period of two years, UFS management will get rid of the system that allows provisional registrations, then students will strike again? We need an SRC that has a unipolar mandate that advocates for the struggle of black students within every university in the country,” said a student known as Moleboheng Mokoena.
