Pta students protest racism

2008-03-12 18:13

Pretoria - About 200 students protested against racism at tertiary institutions outside the Education Department's offices in Pretoria on Wednesday.

Handing over a memorandum to director general Duncan Hindle, the South African Students Congress (Sasco) called for an end to racism.

It demanded a full investigation into as well as a solution to racism at all tertiary institutions.

Referring to a recent incident at the University of the Free State where students forced employees to drink soup supposedly laced with urine, Sasco demanded that the vice chancellor of the university be fired.

"The students must be expelled and refused further enrolment at all SA universities for an extended period of time.

"The culprits must go to jail," read their memorandum.

It also called on government to allocate resources to black universities as well.

Sasco said the department had failed to regulate fees at tertiary institutions and that academic and financial exclusion violated the education of students.

Hindle said the department would study the memorandum, adding that racism at tertiary institutions was unacceptable.

- SAPA