The tragedy of this time of year should be exposed and become a priority.
So many children passed matric with good enough marks to qualify at a tertiary institute and hope to begin studying at a government university in SA.
The vast majority of children in SA who have access to education will want to study further, but are unaware that the universities in this day and age are still the same size and have the same limited capacity to accept only as many students as 50 years ago.
I don’t know of any government universities being built in our new democracy and, if any were, there should be at least be two to three times as many as before.
The residences, or hostels, can accommodate only 25 per cent of the applicants.
Where do all the students go who qualify to study further, but cannot get into university due to limited space?
A private college or private university is most times unaffordable, as it is not subsidised by the government, and correspondence courses, at Unisa for example, don’t offer medical or science degrees.
The government should realise that there are many times more qualifying applicants to universities than what the university has space for.
How many bright and motivated students who passed matric successfully have been turned away from universities, only because of limited space, and became helpless and without hope?
No wonder crime or drugs become an option in the end.
