Chief’s varsity fee input sits well with Blade

ANT KATZ

Rabbi Goldstein was one of 10 delegates of the National Religious Leaders Council (NRLC) who was invited to discuss the matter with Nzimande and some of his most senior officials.

The Minister presented the problem as well as a solution he is working on – but stressed that he wanted honest feedback from the group of faith leaders.

Nzimande’s current thinking is that fees would increase as normal, the Chief Rabbi told the Jewish Report, but that the increases would only apply to those who could afford it. Those who can’t would continue to pay the same fees as they did in 2015. The education institutions would get the fees they require as the subsidised students’ shortfalls would be funded by the State.

The reason for his plan, Nzimande told the meeting, was to ensure that the wealthy are not getting subsidies which they don’t need.

Seated opposite Nzimande at the table, the Chief Rabbi proposed a concept of “soft loans for students” which, he later told Jewish Report, means that “those who do well financially after studying will repay their loans” and could become part of what can eventually become a self-sustaining system.

ABOVE: Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein and Rabbi Gideon Pogrund with leaders of other faiths and the Ministry for Higher Education

Rabbi Goldstein said the Minister really liked the idea and asked his deputy to make note of it.

Another of Rabbi Goldstein’s suggestions is already being actioned. The Chief Rabbi wrote a Bill of Responsibilities in 2009 (co-drafted with then-Minister of Education Naledi Pandor) which is now part of the primary school curriculum in South Africa and suggested its distribution should be expanded to higher education institutions, workplaces and the like.

The deputy director general in Nzimande’s ministry, Dr Dianne Parker, was tasked to work with Rabbi Goldstein to take the idea forward – and they are already in touch.

Nzimande said there is a gap the religious leaders could assist him with; there had been very little input into the debate from parents, resulting in a situation where educators, government and students are left to work out the answers without guidance from parents. He asked the faith leaders to please pass the message down the line so that community clergy could raise it with their individual congregations.

Towards the end of the meeting, the Chief Rabbi pleaded with the Minister to express the grave concerns of the country’s religious leaders to the President and his government “regarding the actions being taken against Minister Pravin Gordhan.” Dr Nzimande promised that he would convey the message.