#wits fees must fall continues 10th October 2016
UCT students protest fee increases and outsourcing. Photo by Masixole Feni
Is it going to happen? Is it a denied right? Is it just for the poor? These are the most common questions, to mention the least, these days around the university protests. This is one complex issue our country is facing in the meantime. Complex in a sense that even though it might be possible that free education is a possibility but for every action there is a reaction or consequences. In the below illustration we seek to point out even the not so obvious consequences students might face in future because of the free education.
It is apparent that the Wits SRC speaks of a definite research that has been conducted and proven that free education is likelihood and if implemented, “quality education would be for all in this country”. However I feel that students are shooting themselves on the foot with this regime. I say this because of the foreseen prospects that might arise through free education. The government has started applying free education in some of the public high schools in South Africa. To be basic and honest, those schools are not functioning very well and the results being produced deteriorate every year, the services provided in those schools are a disgrace to humanity. And this is just high school.
Universities such at Wits , University of Cape Town, University of Kwa-Zulu Natal, etc are highly ranked universities in Africa. These rankings come from the number and standard of graduates they produce every year . These graduates are of quality and high calibre because of the quality education they receive from the universities. They have updates resource that are in reach for every registered student, they invest large amounts of money for research so they can always be “on top of their game” and be featured in the rankings. Not only that but they always have and updating the internet, electricity and back-up i.e. generators, running sanitised water, infrastructure to accommodate our daily increasing population, well maintained premises which ensure the safety of all students and staff members who walk on campuses daily.
Say free education was granted, who would fund all these above mentioned bills? The government? Definitely not. Will students be allowed to make any demands afterwards? Will we go out to the streets again and demand free Wi-Fi? Will we march to Lexis Nexis and demand updated books? Will we burn buildings because there’s more than 5000 deserving matriculants who cannot access universities because the classes are not enough? Do we expect the government to fund all of this and also pay good salaries to our parents so they can still give us pocket money to party and buy expensive clothing brands because that is exactly the lives of university students? As rhetoric as everything may sound but protests and strikes will be our reality if we do not realise the outcome of our actions.
Fighting for free education is a good cause but at what expense? In South Africa we have public and private services, sincerely speaking, everything that government owned and public is very basic and plain in simple form. However all private institutions, e.g. Netcare are of quality and their services are of superior quality. The same will happen to our universities if we keep on compelling the government to award students with free university education.
Our constitution provides that we are entitled to basic education , and I stress the word “basic”. So yes the government can and will provide that (as it does with most FET colleges which are already free), however universities have a quality standard to maintain. After leaving a university, students want to have quality jobs and that will be maintained through receiving quality education and quality education has to be paid for and quality education is what the government cannot provide.
In conclusion, personally I think and believe that free quality education has to be earned. From as early as matric, students should work and produce good and distinct results. The government must then pay an equivalent amount to the students pass rate e.g. to get 20% the government pays 20% of your fees, you get 90%, the government pays 90% of your fees, easy as that. Everything has to be earned and not just freebies. I cannot buy someone a loaf of bread and they only eat two slices and throw away the rest, which is wasting good bread when there was someone who is in desperate need of it. Imagine the government pays the whole amount at the beginning of the year, the student goes clubbing and partying and fails their studies. They get excluded and appeal, the appeal is allowed and they go back, the government must still pay for such people, then that is setting up the country for even more failure than it is going through. Free education should be for those who excel at their studies, not just an entitlement because of citizenship. Free education should be a conditioned right relevant to your pass rate.
Daily Maverick: Students from Wits University run as police
force fire a stun grenade during the protest Anonymous SA – fees must fall
BIBLIOGRAPHY
• http://www.thejournalist.org.za/kau-kauru/lessons-of-fees-must-fall
• http://ewn.co.za/2016/10/26/Wits-reviews-security-after-arson-attacks
• http://www.groundup.org.za/article/fees-should-not-fall-all_3475/
• http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/2015/10/23/Student-fees-facts-figures-and-observations
• Constitution of the Republic of South Africa No. 108 of 1996
gracieandthabie 