LETTER: Rethink free education
The cost to SA will be enormous and relatively little will be gained
Following the #FeesMustFall campaign that ended with Jacob Zuma’s last-minute legacy of free tertiary education, the cost to SA will be enormous and relatively little will be gained. Many if not most students who qualify for this gift from taxpayers find great difficulty coming to terms with the subjects and disciplines that SA really needs if it is to lift itself out of the economic doldrums. Engineering, science, technology, medicine, accountancy and law typically require more than just scraping through matric with the bare minimum needed to get a bachelor degree exemption. As a result, the free education contingent often end up doing soft subjects such as social sciences or political studies which have limited value when it comes to improving the economy or creating jobs. A further consideration when evaluating the cost or benefit of free education is the appalling drop-out rate of about 50% or more students enrolled for a three-year tertiary course. The government would get much...
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