08-10-2014, 08:50 AM
President Jacob Zuma says universities must produce graduates who appreciate the country’s history.
“These are students who have full appreciation of the history of our country, which was racially and economically divided, its present socio-economic challenges and its future of common purpose centred on the Constitution of the Republic and the National Development Plan,†President Zuma said.
Responding to written questions in Parliament on Tuesday, President Zuma said academic freedom flourishes by allowing all views and different ideological strands to find expression without fear, favour or prejudice.
The questions were raised by Professor Belinda Bozzoli from the Democratic Alliance (DA), who asked the President to define a patriotic university and academic freedom.
Bozzoli also asked the President if he has found any universities to be unpatriotic, if so, which universities and what steps should be taken by such universities in order for them to be defined as patriotic.
“Our country has emerged from a divided past. We look to the intelligentsia in the free and democratic South Africa, in particular at universities, to contribute to the transformation of society by promoting ideas and producing young graduates and intellectuals who understand this heinous past of class and racial domination and who will ensure that the non-racial and equal society we are working for is fully achieved,†the President said.
President Zuma said a patriotic university should be measured by its contribution to building a united, non-racial, non-sexist, democratic and prosperous society as directed by the Constitution of the Republic.
“It should also measure itself in terms of progress made in promoting transformation in terms of race, class and gender, as part of reversing the legacy of apartheid colonialism.
“Universities should thus be thriving centres that allow all sorts of ideas and perspectives to flourish. They should not become platforms for a privileged few to propagate their views to students and the country at large and be closed to other opinions,†he said. – SAnews.gov.za
“These are students who have full appreciation of the history of our country, which was racially and economically divided, its present socio-economic challenges and its future of common purpose centred on the Constitution of the Republic and the National Development Plan,†President Zuma said.
Responding to written questions in Parliament on Tuesday, President Zuma said academic freedom flourishes by allowing all views and different ideological strands to find expression without fear, favour or prejudice.
The questions were raised by Professor Belinda Bozzoli from the Democratic Alliance (DA), who asked the President to define a patriotic university and academic freedom.
Bozzoli also asked the President if he has found any universities to be unpatriotic, if so, which universities and what steps should be taken by such universities in order for them to be defined as patriotic.
“Our country has emerged from a divided past. We look to the intelligentsia in the free and democratic South Africa, in particular at universities, to contribute to the transformation of society by promoting ideas and producing young graduates and intellectuals who understand this heinous past of class and racial domination and who will ensure that the non-racial and equal society we are working for is fully achieved,†the President said.
President Zuma said a patriotic university should be measured by its contribution to building a united, non-racial, non-sexist, democratic and prosperous society as directed by the Constitution of the Republic.
“It should also measure itself in terms of progress made in promoting transformation in terms of race, class and gender, as part of reversing the legacy of apartheid colonialism.
“Universities should thus be thriving centres that allow all sorts of ideas and perspectives to flourish. They should not become platforms for a privileged few to propagate their views to students and the country at large and be closed to other opinions,†he said. – SAnews.gov.za