Dr Sheetal Bhoola
The recent influx of university applications for the first year of study at universities in South Africa is clearly representative of the fact that annually, there is an increase in the number of learners completing grade 12 examinations with success. However, we are certainly lagging in terms of South Africa meeting the goals to educate and develop a functional society with improved socio-economic conditions. An increased pass rate in the national matriculant exams means that a higher percentage of youth qualify to enter university and other tertiary educational institutions. The central challenge remains that as much as we advocate attaining an education for the development of society, we need to facilitate this for our youth. Completing secondary school cannot be viewed as the end to further skills, training and education, but rather the beginning.
The schooling curriculum is designed to teach a learner a few life-needed skills such as critical thinking, communication skills (vocational and writing), independent work ethic and time management, creative skills, interpersonal relationship skills, self-awareness building skills, and self-awareness. The overall purpose of a tertiary educational qualification is to enhance all of the skills mentioned above and educate students to develop a focus niche area so that they can have a qualification to meet the needs of society. The tertiary educational qualification aims to give the student in-depth knowledge and expertise in a particular focus area and prepares them to enter the world of employment.
Therefore, every matriculant should be able to enter a seat of learning at a tertiary educational institution. As a developing society, are we informing the youth of the skills our South African economy requires? Many matriculants have limited knowledge of career options once they complete school. The concept of learning to earn needs to be the primary goal of the South African government, mainly as we aim to improve the quality of our lives collectively. South Africans need to be informed of the skills required in our economy, and they further need to understand the value and approach to degree applicability and relevancy.
Many bachelor's degree graduates complete their qualifications and are unaware of how their skills can be applied in the formal and informal economy. The perception that any university qualification is an avenue to a high-paying job must also be eradicated. Salaries are often market and industry-related coupled with years of work expertise and experience, and a graduate competes with fellow graduates for limited job vacancies.
South African Universities have limited spaces for our matriculants, which affirms the pivotal role of private institutions. Despite the growing demand and popularity of these places because of their capacity to educate our society, no collective studies inform us of what number of school graduates these institutions absorb. No formidable measures indicate and benchmark the value these institutions bring to post-school education and training. The government and the Department of Education do not have sound information about this, which then negatively impacts the possibility of the government considering financial support for students who meet the criteria to study at these institutions. The tuition fees are often unaffordable for many students, especially those we need to uplift from impoverished backgrounds. Those turned away from government institutions end up losing out entirely and struggling to self-fund their education at state, private, and public universities.
Impoverished students need to be funded irrespective of whether they are at a public or private institution, and the government needs to intervene urgently to facilitate this. More importantly, skills required for developing the South African economy must be earmarked to be funded, irrespective of where the qualification will come from. Students who are academically performing well at private tertiary educational institutions have limited access to government platforms of bursaries and scholarships. The National Research Foundation, for instance, primarily supports applications from state universities and not other institutions.
A structured approach needs to be developed so that various types of qualifications can be funded by the government so that our youth are empowered enough to attain a skill and learn to earn.
*Bhoola is a University of Zululand lecturer.
DAILY NEWS
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