While an education expert says free tertiary education addresses the root of economic development in South Africa, its skills shortage, a political analyst has warned that South Africa's economy, in its present state, cannot afford it.
While an education expert says free tertiary education addresses the root of economic development in South Africa, its skills shortage, a political analyst has warned that South Africa's economy, in its present state, cannot afford it.
To sustain the proposed free tertiary education South Africa needs a stronger economy and an even stronger focus on eradicating corruption within government ranks. That's the view of well-known Eastern Cape political analyst, academic and cultural activist, Dr Somadoda Fikeni, who warns that for the government to sustain such a feat a lot needs to happen.
He said in a telephone interview with Grocott's Mail, "Of course the idea is very noble, but in order for the government to achieve this, we need an economy that is growing at a faster rate than we are currently seeing. Besides that, we also need a government that will start by eradicating corruption within its own ranks."
Fikeni said that another way for the government to realise the dream of free tertiary education would be for it to raise taxes considerably. "The government can, of course, raise taxes, but that would make some people very unhappy. "Explaining why might not be enough to someone who is earning below the breadline, though," he said.
Asked if the influx of such students at universities across the country would compromise the standard of education there, Fikeni said, ''I don't think that the quality of the students should be in question at all. "We have seen how most students, especially the majority blacks, have gone to university against many odds and did well, but dropped out because of a lack of funds."
So, where did this leave the current crop of graduates in terms of jobs? Grocotts Mail asked. "As a country, we need a culture of entrepreneurship," Fikeni said. "We need a generation of graduates who don't wait for the government to give them jobs – a generation that will create jobs and work with government in poverty alleviation and job creation." Fikeni said that the over-reliance on the government by current graduates was hurting the country. "Our economy cannot grow at all if all the government does is give, give, give. We need entrepreneurs,'' he said.
Professor Marc Schafer from the Rhodes University Education School, however, said that he thought it was a good idea that higher education be made accessible through further subsidies. Asked how the government could sustain free tertiary education, Schafer said that many countries had done it before and South Africa could learn from them.
"It's all a matter of getting our priorities right as a country. We have a skills shortage. Without skills we cannot create jobs – and that's why it's important that we have subsidised higher education," he said.
