READER LETTER | Easy access to tertiary education creates chaos

While access to free education was perhaps one of the most important vehicles that could promote some equality in our society by closing the gap between the rich and the poor, with everyone having unlimited opportunity to tertiary education, it has brought so many problems that one is bound to accept that indeed there is a reason for everything. 

Because everyone is entitled to go to university, and matric pass rate has been lowered, leaking of matric exam papers and copying is becoming the norm. The result is that universities are overwhelmed by an explosion of new university entrants each year, and all kinds of chaos break out.

Shortage of student accommodation on campus, overcrowded classes, violent protests, students sleeping on floors, in libraries and any space they can find are some of the challenges some students confront. Difficulties in accessing the NSFAS funding also create serious problems.

Try doing a follow-up three, four or even five years down the line and you will find that very few have completed their degrees, with some having started families with their fellow students.

So, you wonder, what was all the farce about? Clearly for some, the whole aim was just to experience university life because it is so easy to get there. Where and when will all of this end?

Cometh Dube-Makholwa, Midrand