Is a Free Education System the answer ?

Based on Data from StatsSA's Community Survey 2016

The picture of the educational levels among South Africans has somewhat improved over the past twenty years, as indicated by the infographic above which shows the education level among South Africans who are twenty-five years and older.

The biggest improvement is among those who claim to have attained secondary education, meaning they have a matric certificate. According to the 1996 census, only 20% among this group claimed to have attained secondary education and this figure has jumped to 31% according to the 2016 Community Survey as carried out by StatsSA. The biggest improvement is among those who claim to have no schooling at all, where in 1996 this figure was 20% the figure in 2016 stands at 6%. Those who claim to have attained a bachelor’s degree or higher has improved from 2% in 1996 to a mere 3% in 2016, but an improvement none-theless.

While these improvements are good news and speak towards increased access to education over the past twenty years, the numbers are not worthy of celebration. Alarm must remain raised about access to education, especially at a tertiary level. The low number of South Africans with tertiary education means that a large proportion of the population continue to, at best, earn their a living from unskilled jobs which pay very low wages and salaries and at worst are unemployed. Without a doubt more needs to be done to increase the number of South Africans who attain matric certificates and even more needs to be done to ensure that those with matric certificates enroll at universities and other institutions of higher learning and go on to graduate with tertiary qualifications. Wages and salaries in South Africa’s economy can only rise if more people are employed in skilled jobs and more people employed in skilled job would have direct impact on the economic performance of the country.

Could a free education system (#feesmustfall) be the answer towards improving the attainment of matric certificates and enrollment in institutions of higher learning in South Africa? Perhaps yes. However, free education comes at a cost to society as government would need to find money to fund the free education system. In the South African context, many would argue that currently there is high wastage in government spending and that with better management, money could be secured to fund free education at all levels of the education system, especially at institutions of higher learning where the overall costs are high. It could also be argued that while a free education may cost more money, the impact of low education levels among many South Africans may in fact already be costing the country more than the money needed to fund a free education system. Therefore, the opportunity costs of a poorly educated work-force could well be far higher than the costs of free education.

With a free education system, I’m convinced that the above picture would look even better twenty years from now.

Our Politicians must show willingness to create effective government !!!