In
a series of events that occurred towards the end of the year, late October 2015, where students protested against the increment of university fees. It all
began when students from the University of the Witwatersrand, students that
cannot afford, were against the increase in registration fees seeing that they
could not afford it as it already was. The protests that occurred at Wits
affected most universities across South Africa. Initially, it influenced students from other universities across the nation, from the University of Johannesburg; Tshwane University of Technology; the University of Cape Town and the University of Pretoria to name but a few, to
question their management with regards to fees being increased.
The
use of social media made it very simple for students to portray their message
to the media and to the mass audience which in return led to celebrities and
other well know people to support the students’ movement. Social media managed
to make the movement trend within a few hours. Social platforms like Twitter,
Instagram and Facebook provided a foundation for the extreme publicity. Had it not been for students taking a stand against fees being increased, university management would not have suspended the increasing of fees. The power to stand made it possible for us to have a affordable education.
The
use of social media made it very simple for students to portray their message
to the media and to the mass audience which in return led to celebrities and
other well know people to support the students’ movement. Social media managed
to make the movement trend within a few hours. Social platforms like Twitter,
Instagram and Facebook provided a foundation for the extreme publicity. Had it not been for students taking a stand against fees being increased, university management would not have suspended the increasing of fees. The power to stand made it possible for us to have a affordable education.
The
disadvantage to this immediate and haphazard occurrence of protests and the
media coverage on the topic is that it does not allow for input from financial managers of the universities respectively or the department of Higher Education
as a whole. The fast publicity provided by hashtags has also influenced,
negatively, the reputation of public relations as it makes it difficult for the
practitioner to respond or clarify as to what really influenced the decision making of the university. It becomes very challenging to manage a disaster that
has already erupted. For future reference, being proactive will be of great use
to Public Relations and the university as a whole. Proactivity controls the eruption
of a situation and solves the problem, sometimes without it being made public.
Your input is of great value
I fully agree that this whole mess would have been avoided if the Government had just came to some sort of agreement with the students then they wouldn't have found the need to make it an even bigger issue.
ReplyDeleteThank you very much for your input my lady. And yes had they been proactive, none of this would have happened. I guess nothing goes right unless its strategically done
Deletesimple logic, we go to school in pursuit of financial stability in future right. Meaning students have limited money. With that being said, it's justified to say that students had all the right to retaliate to an increase of the already high tuition fees in varsities. Power to the students #FeesMustFall
ReplyDeletethank you for the input Dercio. Exactly. How can it be that fees be so high and still increasing while the value of money depreciates? In the end we cannot control the system but we have a say. Power to the students.
DeleteThe #feesmustfall movement demonstrates how our citizen rights are still not attended to.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your input madam Makhetha. Indeed, i feel like the government chooses as to what right we have. If it doesn't suit then, then it's not our right.
DeleteI personally think it is unfair that the tertiary institutions have a percentage increase on student fees every year. I support the #FeesMustFall movement and think that the students should have gone as far as protesting against a percentage decrease on the current fees instead of settling for annual interest increment
ReplyDeleteThank you for the input Dan. As requested by the students, I also think there should be no fees at all.
DeleteThe fact that even celebrities joined in to help students showed the immensity of the whole campaign. Nice piece.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your input my lady. You know a matter is of great importance when it goes international and supported by the whole country.
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