Nzimande said National Treasury has been able to inject R7.7bn and his own department pumped in R1.5bn to make up for the shortfall.
HIGHER Education Minister Blade Nzimande says government is on track for funding students as they have been able to allocate R9.3 billion for the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS).
Nzimande told members of the National Assembly on Wednesday, during questions to ministers in the social services cluster, that all qualifying NSFAS applicants had been funded for the 2022 academic year.
He said the National Treasury had been able to inject R7.7bn and his own department pumped in R1.5bn to make up for the shortfall to cover students this year.
He said his department had to reprioritise funds to get the money required for the NSFAS.
On the long-term plan, he said he had appointed a task team to look at the funding of students.
“The National Treasury allocated an additional amount of R7.7bn for the 2022/23 financial year. A further amount of R1.5bn will be reprioritised from my Department of Higher Education and Training 2022/23 budget. This allocation is in line with the projected R9.3bn shortfall for the NSFAS in the 2022/23 financial year,” said Nzimande.
He said the NSFAS funded thousands of students every year and the number kept growing.
The minister said it was the government’s plan to ensure that students who qualified for NSFAS assistance were funded.
– POLITICAL BUREAU
