Students from the University of the Free State have decided on an aggressive plan of action, to force government to submit to their demands for free higher education.
Following a meeting on the UFS’s main campus this afternoon, students hope to engage UFS management and demand that all disciplinary action against their those involved in protest action earlier this year be immediately halted. They also want the university to refrain from announcing any fee increases until the Commission for Higher Education and Training has completed its report into tertiary education in November.
According to Tumelo Rapitsi, Sasco UFS branch chairperson, students are no longer concerned only with fee increases, but demand free education.
In addition to demands that the University of the Free state halt all talk of fee increases, students at this institution also plan to march on the provincial chamber of commerce, and force them to play their part in ensuring free education becomes a reality.
Rapitsi, told Bloemfontein Courant that it is time that both government and the private sector stop shirking their responsibility to poor and middle-income students.
Earl Coetzee/earl@centralmediagroup.co.za
