Fort Hare Student Wins Case Against University, Eastern Cape Court Orders Institution to Give Him Pass Mark

• A student from the University of Fort Hare received a lifeline from the Bhisho High Court in the Eastern Cape
• The court ordered the varsity's senate to pass the third-year student after it gave him a failing mark of 27% for handing in an assignment late
• The judge added that the Fort Hare senate did not have s good reason to for trying to fail the student

EASTERN CAPE - A final-year student from Fort Hare University has been saved from having to repeat a module.

Despite submitting a practical assignment late, the Bhisho High Court has ordered the university to award Mbali Silimela a passing mark.

Fort Hare senate overturns education faculty's decision to fail Silimela

Bachelor of Education student Silimela dragged the university to court after its senate overturned the education faculty's decision to give Silimela a failing grade.

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The dean of education agreed to accept the late assignment, a move that would have seen Silimela pass the module with 57%.

The senate went against the faculty's decision and wanted to give the student a failing mark of 23%.

The assignment, which had two parts, was meant to be handed in on 2 September and 13 October 2022, respectively. Silimela handed both in on 11 November, SowetanLIVE reported.

The student didn't give the court a reason why he handed the assignment in so late.

Bhisho High Court say Fort Hare senate had no good reason to fail Silimela

Regardless, in handing down the judgement on Tuesday, 28 March, Judge B Hartle said the senate had no good reason to go against the education faculty's decision.

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Adding to the judge's decision was the fact that the specific module that the senate wanted to fail the student on was being phased out.

South Africans divided by the Fort Hare court order

Below are some questions:

Bryan Charles Judd commented:

'They give politicians degrees for free, but fail genuine students on a technicality! Sounds fair, does it not?"

Earl Smiles warned:

"What a dangerous precedent that the courts are setting here."

YvesSaint King Tsatsi added:

"Moral of the story… It is important for everyone to know their rights."

Ntanda Tutuse Jokani said:

"Brave he is… taking the entire senate to court."

Terence Hermanus claimed:

"He should have submitted it on time like everyone else. He knew the rules. He's the one who's wrong, not the university."

UJ celebrated 80-year-old PhD graduate who took the graduation platform in his wheelchair

Briefly News reported that a man named Robert Jeffrey recently graduated from the University of Johannesburg with a PhD at the age of 80. What an achievement!

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Knowledge knows no bounds and you are never too old to learn. This man is a reminder that nothing should ever stop you from reaching your dreams.

UJ shared a video of Dr Jeffrey graduating, which was genuinely emotional. The university is proud that they were able to help this elderly man reach his academic goal and are grateful for the reminder he gave to everyone out there.

Source: Briefly News