The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) has acknowledged the link between financial vulnerability and student safety.
The parliamentary portfolio committee on higher education recently raised concerns that NSFAS funding delays may leave students, especially young women, vulnerable to sexual
exploitation.
The Commission for Gender Equality (CGE) presented a report indicating that sexual harassment is increasing in higher learning institutions.
Committee member Yanga Govana raised concern that funding delays by NSFAS may be contributing to the increase in gender-based violence (GBV) and harassment.
The bursary scheme funds tuition and accommodation.
Govana was especially concerned about what could happen to female students who had nowhere to sleep because of accommodation funding delays.
“It would contribute towards these allegations of transactional relationships between registration leadership and students,” said Govana.
Ishmael Mnisi, NSFAS spokesperson, told Sunday World that the financial aid scheme recognises that timely disbursement of allowances is crucial to safeguarding students from financial hardships.
“We are aware of the broader concerns regarding financial vulnerability and campus safety.
“While direct links between financial hardship and sexual harassment require further -research, NSFAS remains committed to addressing all factors that impact student well-being,” said Mnisi.
He said NSFAS was concerned about GBV and supports national efforts by the
Department of Higher Education and Training and other stakeholders to make campuses safer.
He added that NSFAS had noted the committee’s concerns but added that this year, the scheme was able to keep to its allowance payment schedule.
He further said the scheme had improved its communication with beneficiary students to mitigate stress and uncertainty.
“Communication channels are being improved to ensure that students will, at all times, know about their payments, deadlines, and other issues,” he said, adding that payment delays were infrequent and often caused by problems associated with payment verification, banking credentials and other administrative issues.
He stated they were implementing upgrades to the payment system, administrative procedures and support staff to address these issues.
“To students feeling unsafe or exploited due to financial delays. While NSFAS ensures that it streamlines its payment processes to minimise any delays, we urge students to seek assistance from campus support services, student affairs offices, or our dedicated NSFAS support channels,” said Mnisi.
“Students’ safety and well-being are our priority, and we are committed to working with institutions and authorities to address these issues.”
Mimmy Gondwe, deputy minister of higher education and training, said NSFAS and the commission would meet on August 5 to discuss the report.
“We are trying to ensure that everybody in the higher education space is on board when it comes to the reports,” said Gondwe.
“The great thing about the collaboration is that it is not only us and the CGE and higher health.
“We have the National Prosecuting Authority, and we have SAPS as well coming in. So to break those silos, we thought we should bring all of them together,” she added.
