New Delhi: South African activist and politician Fasiha Hassan on Thursday supported the students of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in their protest against the proposed hostel fee hike. Hassan is a former student activist who was one of the leaders of the #FeesMustFall movement that demanded equal access to higher education in her country.
Hassan visited the campus to take part in a public talk along with suspended BRD medical college lecturer Kafeel Khan. According to the Indian Express, the university’s administration attempted to bar Hassan from speaking, but the activist defied the order.
The JNU registrar sent her a letter, in which the South African embassy was also marked, saying, “You are requested not to address the said meeting as its venue falls in the close vicinity of Administrative Block of JNU, which is a prohibited area within the University campus for holding such activity.”
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Speaking to the students, Hassan said that in South Africa, students had gathered in similar protests for free and accessible education. “In South Africa, education is expensive. People get the education they can afford, not the education they deserve… At every forefront of change, it’s the young people who have led it… It was young people at Tahrir Square, it was young people at Black Lives Matter, it was young people at Fees Must Fall and it’s young people here at JNU that will change the status quo,” she said, according to the Indian Express.
Fasiha Hassan. Photo: Facebook/Fasiha Hassan
David Kabwa, a student union leader from the University of Victoria, also lent solidarity. “We are here to remind you that this is happening to young people all over the world. Remember you are not alone, remember that it has been done before. Fasiha has shown us that it can be done,” he said, according to the English daily.
Kafeel Khan said the government has weakened the education and health sectors in the country. “Their aim is to commercialise the education system, thereby rendering it unaffordable for underprivileged sections,” he said.
The ‘Fees Must Fall’ movement in South Africa, which began in October 2015, successfully restricted the government from raising fees of educational institutions. Like the JNU students, the South African movement protested an increase in student fees and demanded the government to increase funding of universities.
Hassan has since joined the African National Congress (ANC) and has been elected to a provincial legislature, which is the equivalent of a state assembly. She is the youngest Members of the Provincial Legislature in Gauteng.
The students of JNU have been protesting for more than a month against a significant hike in the hostel fee and other charges that they claim would make higher education inaccessible to people from marginalised sections.