The poor will still not benefit even when the fees have fallen says the fees commission, there is proof to support what they are saying and now I am worried at what will happen next because this just proves how democracy has failed the poor of the poorest and continues to do so with a big smile.
The department of basic education has dodged bullets many times, but this time they really have to admit they are failing the poor and aught to come up with an implementable working strategy and fast. Access to university is still the highest in private schools, followed by former model c schools and public schools are trailing the list even though it accounts for the highest number of learners. What this simply means is that if fees fall the group that is going to benefit the most is the rich, followed by the middle class and the poor will not really benefit because majority of them won’t be in those universities.
Allow me to go on a rant! $@%@%#%^&^@@^&@*^@%@*^%#$^&^#*(*)@^%#%^&^#&%@^%@
The higher rate of dropouts for students on NSFAS loans proves that socioeconomic conditions do play a huge role in learning. In many cases students end up failing their modules because they are hungry, which makes sense and besides the attempts by NSFAS to offer meal allowance at times it is really little to cover a student’s expenses for a whole month. In extreme cases we have seen NSFAS allocate insufficient funds for accommodation which makes the stay of students impossible unless they can foot the bill to cover the shortfall and hence the 70% dropout rate that threatens to grow.
What we need is a more refined education system, although free higher education is the ultimate goal, access is the primary goal. Because if we achieve the free fees but still find that majority of poor students fail to access the system then our achievements would only mean the further advancement of privileges for the poor and middleclass students. The gap between the rich and the poor will continue to grow…
Article By Dimo wa Moraswi Sekele
Dimo is a writer, poet, serial activist and has Entrepreneurship as a career of choice. Self taught Videographer and photographer
