Deputy Minister in the Presidency, Nonceba Mhlauli and Higher Education and Training Minister Buti Manamela will hold a Freedom Day BackChat Conversation on YouTube on Monday.
The conversation will focus on the constitutional rights of students and the responsibilities required to realise them. The session will be held under the theme: “Beyond Fee-Free Education: Are constitutional imperatives honouring the rights of students?”
“This year’s BackChat shifts the focus from abstract notions of freedom to a more urgent and grounded inquiry: What does the Constitution promise students? What responsibilities does it impose on all of us? Where is the gap between that promise and [the] lived realities of students, and what must be done by government, institutions of higher education, and students themselves to close it?"
“The conversation will interrogate whether the post-school education and training sector is fully honouring the rights guaranteed under the Constitution and what is required to give effect to these rights in practice,” a Presidency statement on Friday read.
The platform will bring together students from universities, Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges and Community Education and Training (CET) institutions.
“The platform provides a space for open dialogue between students and government leaders to engage in conversation on important issues affecting students, which can be used to formulate policies,” the statement read.
The conversation will be livestreamed on YouTube from 6pm on Monday.
The livestream will follow the national Freedom Day commemoration in the Free State.
READ | President Ramaphosa to lead Freedom Day commemoration
– SAnews.gov.za
