South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma has announced that the government will keep university tuition fees unchanged  in 2016, following a week-long nationwide protests by students that culminated in a mass gathering outside the main government offices in Pretoria on Friday.

In what has been termed as the biggest student protest in the country since apartheid ended in 1994, University students across the country went on protests to demand that the government scrap a planned 6 percent increase in tuition fees.

Universities had proposed that tuition fees be increased by 10-12 percent in 2016, arguing that they needed the increase to keep up with international standards but the government capped the increase at 6 percent.

Students however rejected the planned fee increase, leading to protests that saw more than a dozen universities shut down across the country.

President Zuma met with Student leaders and professors on Friday in an effort to quell the growing protest.

He was set to address students after the closed-door meeting, but failed to do so after windshield of a truck he was supposed to use while addressing them got shuttered by flying objects.

“We agreed that there will be a zero increase of university fees in 2016,” Zuma said in a short televised press briefing.

“Government understands the difficulty faced by students from poor households, and urges all affected to allow the process to unfold to find long-term solutions in order to ensure access to education.”

The official South African twitter account later confirmed that the president had agreed to a zero percent rise in tuition fees.

President Zuma says there will be a 0% university fee increase in 2016, agreed #Universityfees #Unionbuilding

— SA Gov News (@SAgovnews) October 23, 2015

President Zuma is looking forward to further engagements that will bring lasting solutions to this matter #Universityfees #Unionbuilding — SA Gov News (@SAgovnews) October 23, 2015

Using social media apps such as Twitter and Facebook, students used the hashtag #FeesMustFall to rally together.

The protests turned violent in some cases as students picketing with anti-government banners clashed with anti-riot police who used stun grenades, rubber bullets and tear gas canisters to disperse them.

On Wednesday, student stormed parliament in Cape Town and trapped lawmakers in for hours.