Free higher education - is it possible in South Africa?
In the past few weeks, students across the country have voiced their concern and anger over fee hikes in 2017. Higher education minister Blade Nzimande has announced that fee increases will be at the discretion of universities, and capped at 8 percent. But protests have intensified, as we await government's final decision on the fees debacle that will be announced by the Finance Minister in October.
Faith Daniels spoke to education expert Professor Mary Metcalfe who shared her views on the state of affairs.
Q: Take us through the various arguments put forward in this debate for free higher education.
A: Firstly there is a debate about the fee increase for 2017. Universities did not have a fee increase last year and I know that they are struggling to provide quality without a fee increase. There is also a strong push to have no fees at all - free higher education for all. The third dimension of the debate is the level of anger amongst many young people and citizens more broadly. They believe that government is not prioritising and using resources fairly. There is anger because they see resources being wasted on different projects. They feel that government is out of touch with their aspirations. It's that anger that's driving the protests on university campuses.
Q: What is your reaction to the violence and destruction of property in some instances?
A: My view is that the more students have to resort to threats of intimidation, the less likely they are going to be able to lead a successful movement for no fees and the more they are going to be marginalised. That would be unfortunate because that's when we will see an increase in a security response to them.
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Q: A lot has been said about the so-called missing middle - explain what that means and why this group of students must receive attention.
A: The missing middle are people who don't qualify to receive funds from the National Student Financial Aid scheme - NSFAS - but whose families genuinely and deeply struggle to provide for their child to go to university. Those would be people who typically fit into the category of employment of police, nurses, service workers, teachers. The minister's recent announcement puts a threshold on what counts as the missing middle - families with an income of less than 6 hundred thousand rand.
Q: What are particular examples of what these students grapple with at university?
A: The struggles of those students and their families cannot be under-estimated. Often we hear reports of students who are genuinely hungry and we also know that students are growing massive debts when they don't succeed. So the fear of failing and having debt because you are in the missing middle and debt because you are using NSFAS, I think fuels the resentment.
Q: The majority of students do not want to pay any fees. Can SA afford this?
A: The minister's position is this - Why should the families of the wealthy not pay fees? Why should the families that are wealthy not contribute through their fees to the sustainability of our universities whilst we address the needs of families that are poorer? That is a very strong argument put forward. In our Constitution, basic education from grade nine and below is regarded as a right. Even in basic education there are many learners who are still required by policy, to pay school fees. But at least 60 percent, if not more of our learners are in schools which are considered to be no-fee schools. So one could argue that this is a similar position in higher education. In fact, post grade nine, there is no right to education enshrined in the Constitution or in legislation. It's something that is progressively made available as the country has the resources to provide.
*Professor Mary Metcalfe is a former Education MEC in Gauteng. She is currently associated with the WITS School of Governance