By Musa Zondo
Learning is easy when it’s in a safe environment and sometimes students want to spend longer on campus in order to get additional time to improve their craft. However, Durban University of Technology (DUT) students who stay in residences that are in high crime areas like Point Road say they can’t do this.
One res in this area has imposed an 11pm curfew for all students staying there. “Safety is our priority. The curfew helps us ensure students are not exposed to unnecessary harm late at night,” says residence manager Bhubesi Nxumalo.
Earlier this year, Screen Arts students told Credible Source by DUT Journalism that they felt that this is an impediment to their learning as they sometimes would like to spend long hours in edit suites on campus and would be on other shoots that would help them in their module. “We often need specific lighting or nighttime visuals for our projects. Being restricted by the curfew really limits what we can achieve academically,” says Screen Arts student, Unathi Mafuze.
Their profession leads them to the creation of music videos, working behind the camera in television and producing feature films. Some shots cannot be faked at a different time of the day.
The Screen Arts Department has had to write a note to the residence to explain the need for students to film outside curfew hours.
There are other students at DUT who complain of the same about this residence.
“As a journalism student, I sometimes need to cover stories in real time, but the curfew makes it impossible,” says another student.
“We need freedom to complete our assignments without constantly negotiating
Permissions,” added another.
The Durban University of Technology and other universities in the city have a number of outsourced residences that are far from their campuses and some of these are in dangerous areas.
