Students changed the game yesterday when they stormed the parliamentary precinct to tell the politicians that there could be no more business as usual. Yesterday's events were historic in many ways, and today is the beginning of a new era as far as education is concerned.Now, with the Congress of South African Students joining the protests, we can expect there to be more disruptions across the schooling system.We need to ask how we arrived at this situation, which now looks as if it could overwhelm the state and give Minister of Higher Education Blade Nzimande a pounding headache.The government has for years done too little to broaden access to higher education.For years it has been warned that the situation of students is dire - they must contend with poverty even as they struggle to get a quality education.As we have said before, our government leaders must respond to the students' plight quickly and find a balance between access and affordability.To pretend that time will heal the wounds, and that the threat of cancelled exams will force students back to class, is criminal.Our leaders cannot claim to represent us adequately when they are deaf to the screams of thousands of students who just want to be heard.The struggle for education has been at the centre of our revolution. Back in 1976 it was students who took to the streets to demand a change in their lives.They risked all to challenge a system that spoke and acted on their behalf.It is important that President Jacob Zuma deal with this crisis - which Nzimande continues to characterise as merely "a challenge".There is nothing to stop Nzimande ordering universities to abandon the fee increases, at least for the time being...