South Africa's Tuition Crisis

Zaria George
Oct 26, 2015
3 min read

Credit - AFP/Getty

October 26, 2015 - New protests have recently plagued South Africa, of which have been described as the biggest since apartheid’s end in the 1990s. What sparked the catalyst for these protests? Tuition and fees for universities have been proposed to peak to a 10%-12% increase for probable students.

The first demonstration for the proposed change occurred last week at the Johannesburg’s University of the Witwatersrand when students blocked the entrance to the university’s campus. Since then, similarly defiant actions have spread to ten other universities within South Africa, three of which have made the decision to close for the time being.

Such protests have come at an inconvenient time, as enrolled students are now demanding that exams that must be taken next week be postponed indefinitely.

The government appears to be trying to appease the protesters, as South African president, Jacob Zuma has agreed to freeze the increase in tuition, as well as provide more money for universities who needed the increase in fees to pay for resources.

This decision seems to have not made a dent on the rallying students’ actions, unlike what government officials had initially hoped. Protests have continued to take place across the country, with many of the students now wanting more of their demands met. The simple problem of tuition has now become an obscure factor of the whole rallies.

So what exactly is the root cause of such a grand problem? Many students have taken advantage of the opportunity to shed light on the continuing racism that the country of South Africa faces two decades after the end of apartheid. Education is a prominent field where blacks lack the same opportunities that whites in the country have, and it poses as a juxtaposition to the promise made back in 1994 where education would be free for all.

"Our parents were made promises in 1994. We're just here for the refund,” is a popular phrase amongst the students.

The protests can be seen as a reflective that American teens face in the present as well. Growing tuition fees for private universities pose as a threat for prospective students seeking an education that shouldn’t come at an expense of their wallet.

Such problems thin the differential line of the same generation across the world.

Citations

Gorton, Thomas. "South African Student Protests against Fees Go Global." Dazed. N.p., 23 Oct. 2015. Web. 26 Oct. 2015.

<http://www.dazeddigital.com/artsandculture/article/27121/1/south-african-student-protests-against-fees-go-global>.

Safodien, Mujahid. South African students face off against police during Friday's protests in Pretoria. Digital image. AFP/Getty Images, n.d. Web. 26 Oct. 2015.

"South African Students Continue Fees Protest." BBC. BBC News Services, 26 Oct. 2015. Web. 26 Oct. 2015. <http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-34636419>.

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