Pretoria - The demand for free higher education had been heard and was the most justifiable demand of the #FeesMustFall movement.
So says Minister of Science and Technology Naledi Pandor.
She was speaking on Wednesday at the University of Pretoria on the importance of science and technology in the 21st century.
The minister said responses to the demands that were on the streets, in lecture halls and boardrooms would have to come from the government, parents and higher education leadership.
“All of us have a part to play. The most justifiable demand is that the poor must be supported to access quality higher education.”
Pandor also highlighted the ongoing challenge of decolonising tertiary education as the next stumbling block higher education was faced with.
“The challenge of decolonising our education must be driven and shaped within the academy as it would be tragic to allow governments to determine curriculum renewal and processes of knowledge production.
This will demand much of the students and academic leaders in higher education. “Our institutions seem to have continued to affirm conservative colonial norms of what constitutes knowledge. They have allowed the fossilisation of notions that Africa has very little to offer knowledge institutions.”
Pandor said a recent study completed by her department on the retention and conversion of students in the post-graduate study pipeline showed that inadequate financial resources were the biggest contributor to students taking gap years in between study levels.
“It is clear from our experience that there needs to be improved support for and resourcing of post graduate education. Many of our struggles tend to focus on undergraduate education, but if we intend to be global players greater attention should be given to post-graduate education,” she said.
Pandor said it was crucial for the country and Africa as a whole to focus on making advances in the science, technology and innovation sector to ensure the end of the continent’s dependence on the West.
“Whether it is in the field of protecting biodiversity, or the development of more efficient management systems for natural resources South African scientists count among the best. We are now at the forefront of innovative programmes to provide decent sanitation and service delivery to impoverished communities,” she said.
“But we need to intensify our efforts of working to achieve greater economic integration and diversifying the range of goods and services that we export.”
goitsemang.tlhabye@inl.co.za
Pretoria News