Our Quest For Free Quality Education for All

Vumile Velaphi and Maxwell Nqeno*

We all thought that in freedom all people will have equal opportunity to liberate their minds and accumulate wisdom and knowledge. In the ten-year-old democratic South Africa, society has to some extent been deracialized but class segregation is being recreated. It is only the middle class and the elites of the country that have the privilege to pay for quality education. In schooling this has meant that the state does not put enough money into public education and that therefore those who can afford it pay higher school fees in public schools or go straight into private schooling.

We have always known that South Africans who live in poverty would find it difficult to complete high school or further their studies at tertiary institutions due to reasons of unemployment and poverty. Parents /guardians would therefore be unable to sponsor their children’s education.

Education policy should be concerned about providing the money needed to pay for quality school and tertiary education for all. Current policy, however, is problematic. For example, the small numbers of tertiary students from poor communities who actually receive financial aid, have to pay it back with a large interest. And for the many poor students who receive financial aid or only little financial aid, but manage to get into university, sooner or later they are financially excluded from completing their studies. School and university dropouts may be solving the financial problems of schools or universities. But this is not solving the problem of society as a whole. There are no jobs to go to. A few students forced to drop out of schools and universities may be lucky to find low-paid unskilled work. Many, however, have to look forward to unemployment. This does not mean that education will solve the problem of unemployment, but that educated persons will have skills that can be used in fighting for the right to a job.

Therefore it is in our best interest that even larger amounts of money are spent on education rather than on the military. This makes sense because our country has not been to war in 20 years and there is no threat of war on the horizon.

Our struggle for free quality education must be distinguished from that of reformists. We do not want school fees exemptions or exemptions for the poor. We want a well-funded single public schooling system where there are no school fees; where children can truly go to a school of their choice.

It is time and proper for South Africans to stand up and fight for free quality education so as to improve their lives, and contribute to the political and economic development of the country.

*Vumile Velaphi and Maxwell Nqeno are young activists both from Sol Plaatjie, West Rand, and are members of the Anti-Privatisation Forum’s Education Sub-committee