DENOSA Learner Movement statement from two-day meeting DENOSA Learner Movement held a National Learner Movement from the30-31 August 2014 at DENOSA Head Office in Pretoria, where robust engagements were the order of the day. The National Learner Movement deliberated on a number of issues affecting student nurses and nursing education in South Africa.We urge all the leaders as well as members of DENOSA Learner Movement to contest in SRC Elections in ensuring that we advance the interests of student nurses and the nursing education at large. We note the jurisdiction of DENOSA in institutions of higher learning as well as nursing institutions. We note how policies are selective in terms of how trade unions should represent students as the National Department of Health prohibits student nurses from starting with clinical practice before having a proper indemnity cover. It’s a worrying factor that our members are not receiving full benefits of the organisation due to policies in our institutions of learning. As we swell ranks of student governance, we will become key policy-makers in our respective institutions and should champion the fact that prospective members are not prohibited from joining the organisation by lecturers who undermine the constitution of the Republic of South Africa when it speaks on freedom of association. DENOSA Learner Movement is concerned with the high failure rate in the nursing colleges across the country; it has become a norm though unacceptable and unethical that is witnessed in nursing education. We condemn the conduct of lecturers whose primary role is to ensure that students fail and not progress in their academic obligations. Our student leaders are always targeted particularly academically so as to silence and ultimately exclude them. A survey and statistics as to the trend of high failure rates in nursing education should be conducted. DENOSA Learner Movement is planning to host National Health Games in Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape in 2015 which will play a major role in promoting healthy lifestyle, particularly within young people. DENOSA Learner Movement is very serious about the health of South Africans in general and our members in particular. It is our duty to educate our beloved nation in terms of a healthy lifestyle. DENOSA Learner Movement condemns the conduct of some MEC’s of Health as they increasingly become an impediment in advancing the goals and ambitions of the National Department of Health. Our MEC’s are not following on progressive leadership provided by Minister Dr. Aaron Motsoaledi. The autonomy has proven to produce uncooperative MEC’s who look down upon and disregard the nursing profession. The role of the National Health Council is yet to be realised by all stakeholders in the health sector particularly in nursing education. We will further monitor and evaluate the performances of all MEC’s of Health as well as the Minister of Health and we will lead campaigns to address those that deliberately attempt to impede the envisaged progress in nursing education. The bursary system as a funding model in nursing education should be abolished and PERSAL system should be implemented with full benefits as the bursary system has proven to be more detrimental than progressive. Nursing education is highly regulated and it is legally obliged that all parties, including Department of Health across all provinces and also the national, observe those legislative frameworks. We call on the implementation of the PERSAL system by the next academic year so as to provide uniformity across the nursing education and also serve as a tool to attract young people to the already aging nursing profession. Students work 40 hours per week and are exposed to the same conditions as other permanent health workers, thus a dual status of student and employee. The provinces which are using the PERSAL system witness lesser student unrests and those provinces using bursary system are witnessing constant student unrests. Our accommodation leaves much to be desired and leaves a sour taste in our mouths; our residence are not safe and not conducive to ensuring academic excellence. Our students are exposed to all sorts of criminal activities in our residences due to the fact that the Provincial Departments of Health disregard the plight of student nurses. It is totally unacceptable that our students are assaulted on campus; students’ properties get stolen because nobody is held accountable. Safety in residences is very much compromised and a serious area of concern. We need to engage with the Minister of Health and the entire Portfolio Committee on Health to re-enforce the need and importance of the nursing education in South Africa. We have common problems in provinces which are of national interest. It is a prerogative of DENOSA National Learner Movement to pursue that nursing education is of essence and every stakeholder is recognised in the health fraternity. DENOSA Learner Movement is and should be the vanguard of all student nurses in the country. Our role is to ensure that our membership will be represented as such. Our students are now victims of the triple crisis due to our regressive Department of Health. The Department of Health is treating student nurses as the doormat whereby they wipe off their dirty shoes. SANC has been historically disadvantaging the nurses in general and nurses are exposed to such incompetence from SANC. We call for SANC to be decentralized and have provincial offices in all provinces. We are highly concerned by lack of commitment from SANC as it takes months to register student nurses after completion of their training. As DENOSA Learner Movement, we note that the 11th National Congress of COSATU resolved that all affiliates should establish youth forums/ student movements; we have been in the forefront of ensuring that the resolution is implemented as such. DENOSA Learner Movement will initiate and be at the forefront of establishing COSATU Young Workers Forum. Issues of young people are complex in nature and are better understood by young people. End Issued by the DENOSA Learner Movement For more information, contact: Tshepo Monoketsi: National Chairperson0795015808 Nkululeko Mapaila: National Secretary0784112856
Posted on: Wed, 17 Sep 2014 18:17:20 +0000
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