The Student Representative Council(SRC) at Wits University has said that it is against the adoption of a Mandatory vaccination by the university’s council.
Cebolenkosi Khumalo, president of the SRC says that they are not against students getting vaccinated but are against the idea of students being forced into taking the vaccination. He adds that the university should instead take the approach of educating students about the importance of being vaccinated.
According to Khumalo, there would be less resistance toward the introduction of vaccines at higher learning institutions if they opted for this approach
I believe the approach that has been taken was wrong because at first the government, even with institutions of higher learning, were supposed to first go out on education before even going to mandate the vaccines and would have seen a different outcome. But however what we saw is that there was a lack of education.
The SRC representative further states that the university already had a well-operating vaccination programme, in which several students participated willingly.
The SRC representative has also stated that although the policy has been adopted, much of the debate around it is still in its consultative phase.
Wits university adopted its mandatory vaccination policy following a council meeting held on 25 November last year. This, after a few other higher-learning institutions across the country followed suit.
The South African Union of Students (SAUS) is also among the student bodies that have taken a strong stance against mandatory vaccination policies. The union’s national spokesperson, Asive Dlanjwa went on to point that mandating vaccination programmes sets a bad precedent which will amount to a violation of students’ rights.
Read more: Council Approves Wits Covid-19 Mandatory Vaccination Policy
