Johannesburg - The increasingly high demand for student accommodation is still a major problem for the government, with the private sector often coming to the rescue as government struggles with resources.
The continuous call for student accommodation again reached the ears of government when concerned residents of the Vaal gathered at the Presidential Imbizo in the Sharpeville Cricket Pitch in the Sedibeng District Municipality on Friday.
President Cyril Ramaphosa recently led the fourth instalment of the District Development Model (DDM) Presidential Imbizo in the Sedibeng District Municipality under the theme "Leave No One Behind".
The Presidential Imbizo affords all social partners, government, traditional leaders, civil society organs (labour, women, youth, persons with disabilities, business) and communities an opportunity to collectively engage on how to best address the immediate challenges and to create conditions for long-lasting stability and development.
Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology Blade Nzimande addressed the gathering on three issues raised with his department, including lack of artisans, student accommodation and the implementation of a Hydrogen Economy.
"Indeed there is a huge need for student accommodation in the country, it is something that we have identified as a government. We did a study in 2010 which showed that just on universities alone, we were only catering for 20% of the students with accommodation," he said.
Nzimande said they have now expanded to cater for TVET college students which led them to partner with the private sector because the government simply did not have enough resources to provide accommodation at once.
He told the gathering that the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) spent around R11 billion this year on accommodation and in order for them to attract more investment from the private sector, they had to be wise in their spending.
Regarding the artisanal issues, Nzimande said that the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) was working closely with Minister of Employment and Labour, Thulas Nxesi and other ministers to ensure that when students finish their studies, they are employed.
"As a country we are short of artisans, so since 2014 we have been having a ceremony called ‘Decades of Artisans’ that encourages students to go to TVET colleges," Nzimande said.
He further encouraged qualified artisans to be available and participate in ‘Decades of Artisans’ to train and offer support to younger generations interested in artisanal work.
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