AFP
The Department of Justice and Constitutional Development and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission are calling on victims of apartheid system and who have been identified as beneficiaries during the TRC process, to apply for the education assistance program.
Departmental spokesperson Dudu Diraditsile says the program is aimed at providing monetary assistance to identified victims and their dependents and relatives who meet the criteria.
"Regulations aimed at providing basic education and higher education and training assistance respectively, were published on 3 November 2014 and came into effect on 7 November 2014. These regulations provide for monetary assistance to TRC-identified victims and their dependents and relatives who meet the qualifying criteria in respect of their basic education and higher education and training needs," she says.
Assistance will be made for grades R up to 12 as well as tertiary education and will foresee meals, school fees and uniforms, accommodation, and human support for students with special needs, among others.
By the regulations, the Department verifies the potential beneficiary’s victim status and then submits the application for assistance to the relevant Administrator for further processing.
In the case of basic education assistance, the Administrator is the Department of Basic Education. In the case of higher education and training assistance, the authority delegated by the Department of Higher Education and Training to administer the TRC bursary scheme is the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS)
She says to date, more than 8000 students have benefitted from the program.
However, the bursary scheme will not fund students who are studying towards a postgraduate qualification, and funding is provided for several years prescribed for completion of a particular qualification plus an additional two years subject to an annual pass rate of 50%.
