Issues at Stake: Universities cannot be denied right to function

South Africa is not an affluent country and difficult compromises have to be made about how we spend our money.

The heads of the universities have warned that this headlong rush to offering free tertiary education would further encourage dependence on government, with the consequent loss of academic and operational freedom.

That will delimit the precious free thinking capacity of universities.

The students insist their demand for free education is not unreasonable after Minister Blade Nzimande announced that students from households earning less than R600 000 per annum would be exempt from the increment.

Universities are yet to announce the percentage fee increases for the next academic year.

There is a litany of unequal access to social infrastructure in our country.

Who is taking up the plight of homeless people and dealing with critical issues such as expensive private hospitals, public hospitals marred by controversies around patient treatment and the common ill in our society – the high crime rate?

Our country will be in a reawakening mode if the same vigour and passion demonstrated in the education saga are applied to the basic human needs as outlined in the Maslow’s Hierachy.

However, we do not see a response to deprivation in these areas the way we see students venting out their frustrations against universities.

Who pays the exorbitant high school fees for students avoiding free government high schools perceived to be non-perfomering and sub-standard?

Why these strong student opinions and attitudes about free higher education when everything free is frowned upon?

Theirs have been a logic backed by actions such as dragging peers out of lecture halls, chasing staff out of offices, tearing up test papers and disrupting normal academic.

I pay for my daughter’s education from my monthly salary, and so have first-hand experience of the costs involved.

Silent voices
I trust my opinion finds resonance with the silent voices of parents and students who, though sympathetic with the plight of poor students, also have the right to see the 2016 academic year concluded productively for those who want to reap returns from their hard-earned investment.

One has to experience the rich content provided in lecture halls to appreciate the cost of university education. It takes quality academics, world-class facilities and research to yield credible qualifications that lead to decent jobs, not to mention enabling our country to compete on the world stage.

The men and women who deliver their respective subject matter have spent years researching and contributing to knowledge.

Yet, they are underpaid compared to their counterparts in the private sector.

Lecturers are motivated by the intrinsic calling to make a positive impact to society and shape future leaders in our country.

The questions therefore are:
• If students shut down universities in protest against the high cost of education, why are they not applying the same mindset to other services?

• Why do they not demand free food, shut down the telecommunications system or demand free rides on taxis, trains, buses and planes – in the name of social justice?

• Why not demand absolutely free medical care for all?

If these questions sound absurd, try to apply the same logic to the current shutdown of universities.

Even if the state declared free university education for all today, universities in their current capacity would still only be able to absorb fewer than one million students.

That would not achieve the state’s goal of providing access to all.

We cannot deny our institutions the right to function, nor students their right to complete their education just because others cannot afford it.