WINDHOEK – Students yesterday hijacked the official opening of the 2014 academic year at the Polytechnic of Namibia, to stage a protest over tuition fees which they claim the Namibia Student Financial Assistance Fund (NSFAF) had failed to settle with the institution and as a result barred them from registering.
The Minister of Education, Dr David Namwandi, who was the guest speaker at the occasion, started by expressing regret over the poor attendance by students. Little did he know that a larger group of students, in their second, third and fourth years of study, were preparing to mount a surprise demonstration, so well timed to coincide with the end of his speech.
When Namwandi was about to conclude his speech the students entered the hall chanting: “We remember Iyambo, we remember…,” referring to the late Dr Abraham Iyambo, the predecessor of Namwandi. They also produced placards on which was written, “Mr Namwandi do something”, “Unblock our accounts” and “We need your support Minister.”
The surprise protest action took place in the presence of the Rector of the Polytechnic of Namibia, Dr Tjama Tjivikua. Namwandi, who was accompanied by the head of the NSFAF Hilya Nghiwete, decided to grant the protesters an impromptu audience. “We don’t want to see any student enrolled in an institution, but is having a heavy heart. I want to confess I didn’t know anything about this.
I will engage the rector and the fund immediately. I am going to attend to your problems now,” Namwandi told the students after listening patiently, eliciting thunderous applause. Namwandi, Tjivikua and Nghiwete immediately went behind closed doors to caucus and after an hour emerged to inform the students that the fund and the polytechnic agreed to unfreeze all student accounts. “I had a meeting which will benefit you. I will allow Mrs Nghiwete to brief you on the outcome,” he told the students immediately after the meeting. Nghiwete explained that about 750 students have been affected, because the fund did not seetle their accounts. “We got information from the Polytechnic that 750 students are all repeating certain subjects. Since we have paid for four years, which is outlined in the loan contract, the NSFAF will only pay 451 students, who are repeating the 2nd, 3rd and 4th years. We will pay them as of tomorrow until the late registration which is Friday. Since this is just a special arrangement for you to register, if you fail next year, then we will not pay,” she cautioned them.
As for the remaining 299 students, who failed the fourth year, Nghiwete said under no circumstances will the fund settle their outstanding tuition fees, since the NSFAF has already paid their tuition fees in full during the past four years as stipulated in their contracts. “You have to make arrangements with Poly to be given a time frame to pay, but you will be allowed to register now. But you have to be responsible for your 2013 and 2014 financial obligations such as tuition fees,” Nghiwete explained. The most affected individuals are senior students and the period for them to register which was January 16-31 already lapsed. They were angry because they only had up to this coming Friday to take advantage of the late registration window. Some of the students feared that they would not be able to secure admission or a chance to graduate next year, and had to fork out up to N$3 000 for registration, while they have loans which they have to re-pay once they complete their studies.
Many also felt that it is not fair that their loan contracts were terminated for failing a module, which is not a major module. Fourth-year Applied Mathematics and Statistics student, Samuel Ndungula, was however not to be placated so easily. “We are saddened. We are told a day before registration ends that we must go get N$3 000 if we want to register. It is not fair that we should be sent home for failing a subject. Why terminate my contract, if I am in the second year? This undermines the institution, which is about to be transformed into a university and the country as a whole. Now we are going back to the street, because we don’t have N$3 000.” Another BA final year student, Asser Lyambezi said more than 50 percent of the students did not register yet. “As much as politics is important, that 50 percent is a large number of eligible voters,” he said ominously.
By Albertina Nakale