Free higher education will not fix bigger flaws
An holistic approach needed to tackle failure rates, adjustment struggles and graduate unemployment, writes Mary Bomela
The #FeesMustFall movement has given South Africans an opportunity to talk about the affordability and accessibility of higher education, but we need to debate a way forward for the entire education system. Several problems need to be tackled, such as the disparity in the number of children who start grade 1 and those who matriculate, the difficulty students experience in their first year at tertiary level, and the phenomenally high rate of unemployed graduates. There are fundamental problems that require a concerted, joint effort from the government and the private sector to ensure a structure that supports pupils and creates opportunities, but does not leave them with a sense of entitlement. If pupils are struggling at school, the solution is not to lower the standards for everyone to a 30% pass. Children who are not intellectually gifted should be provided with alternative forms of schooling, such as remedial schools or ones that focus on technical skills. It is equally pointless...
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