DUT’s student council provides R3.5m to assist students
Ntshaba urged various departments and donors to partner with the SRC, to raise more funds and to help them ensure that no student is left behind during this difficult time.
THE Student Representative Council (SRC) at the Durban University of Technology (DUT) will provide R3.5 million to cover a once-off emergency living allowance for students already registered and awaiting NSFAS funding for 2021.
According to the university this initiative has already benefitted 173 students, consisting of 119 students from the Durban campuses and 54 students from the DUT campuses in Pietermaritzburg.
Speaking about this initiative, Thobeka Shozi-Nxumalo, DUT’s Student Life Officer in the Department of Student Governance and Development said that this act was historic and possibly a game changer for future SRC’s.
“The exceptional importance of this decision lay in the fact that the SRC approached a problem facing students not from an angle of demanding but that of co-creators of solutions. This was an act of compassion for their peers. The students who received the allowances will surely never forget the SRC of 2020/21 for their role. The SRC demonstrated the principles of ENVISION2030, where Ubuntu was put into practice. This is the type of high-level leadership that the whole University community must be proud of and celebrate,” said Shozi-Nxumalo.
Shozi-Nxumalo also added that the SRC took a very crucial decision of demonstrating leadership and adaptability amid the crisis. She said, the SRC had to make difficult, unpopular choices where they had to choose between entertainment or keeping some students at the university.
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“Instead of hosting their ever-standing significant events such as year opening bashes and DUT beauty contests (which are also critical co-curricular activities), the SRC decided to take that money and give it as an allowance to deserving students who were in financial distress,” Shozi-Nxumalo said.
The SRC general secretary, Njabulo Ntshaba said they had decided to take their events budget and use it wisely in order to assist students who were still waiting for their NSFAS funding.
“These are the students who were not receiving their allowances. We then took a decision to take the money set aside for events and other programmes to attend the urgent matter affecting students. Our usual events and programmes are postponed due to the current Covid-19 pandemic. We did leave some of the money to help us function as the SRC. The allowances given to students were a once-off thing due to our limited budget. However, we are in talks with various departments, especially the Alumni Relations and Advancement office to partner with us and to help us raise more funds,” said Ntshaba.
Furthermore, their wish as the SRC for 2020/21, is for this initiative to be an ongoing project which the next SRC will hopefully move forward. Ntshaba revealed that the SRC, in partnership with the Student Services Department at DUT, recently distributed food parcels to students who were affected by last month’s civil unrest.
Ntshaba urged various departments and donors to partner with the SRC, to raise more funds and to help them ensure that no student is left behind during this difficult time.
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