Entrance to universities in South Africa has not been easy for the majority of students. Prior to 1994, students who were not classified as “white” had to apply for permits to study at “white” universities.
If university courses were offered at “black” universities, “black” students had to attend the “black” universities. Students who were oppressed must be commended for their fight to make all universities in South Africa non-racial.
Professor Merlin Mehl, who became a professor of physics at the University of the Western Cape, always related how a “white” university refused to accept him to study a BSc, with maths and physics as his majors, because South Africa did not need “coloured” physicists in the 1960s.
Despite this setback, he became a celebrated physicist around the world. Many oppressed students fell foul of the suppressive apartheid rules. In the Western Cape, students at UWC have a history of transforming the university into a non-racial institution, as have other Struggle-born universities.
The demand for places at our 26 universities is very high. We need more facilities to cope with the demand for places at universities. The time has come for all our universities to work together with the government to plan the way forward on how to accommodate students at our universities.
All students who meet university requirements should be accepted. In our schools and tertiary institutions, we must develop a seriousness about academic work. I admire educational institutions that do not call the police when there is academic unrest but rather engage with the students.
I find that what many universities are doing is not even engaging with students who are not accepted at their institution personally through their academic structures. I have personally gone with some of my students to find out why they have not been accepted at an institution and was not allowed to enter the university. Surely, the doors of learning have been opened.
I appeal to universities to make every effort to accept students who meet the academic requirements.
* Brian Isaacs.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.
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