Funding studies is another obstacle for those who pass

THE DEPARTMENT of Basic Education has published the 2011 matric results.

Education plays a vital role in the development of society, thus investment in education can never be overemphasised or underestimated.

Important intellectual traits necessary for individual development, such as abstraction, critical and creative thinking are possible through acquisition of knowledge and education. In a country with high unemployment (with narrow and broad rates at 26 and 34 percent, respectively), with no signs of containment of the scourge, lack of job opportunities and excess labour supply, current matriculants can be left with a bleak outlook and lack of ambition.

There are limited opportunities to avert idleness, nonetheless without entrepreneurial skills accorded by the education system in which matriculants can create their own income through selfemployment, aversion of involuntary unemployment results in matriculants having only one option: to further their studies at tertiary institutions.

One obstacle to accessing tertiary education besides academic achievement is financial support for tertiary studies.

Given the wealth gap, income inequalities and perpetual apartheid legacies, most black people find themselves uselessly idle in the respective townships and villages due to lack of resources and opportunities.

Besides unemployment, bogus colleges and bursary conditions remain a costly challenge to the advancement of one’s studies. Desperate matriculants who have been offered bursaries to further their studies at tertiary institutions must thoroughly read and understand terms and conditions of the bursaries as most students, despite their family’s socio-economic conditions, are forced to repay the “bursaries” should they not perform.

What is surprising is that the firms that offer the bursaries do this exercise under their corporate social investment, which qualifies them for a tax rebate.

However, when the student repays the “bursary” the firm does not inform Sars.

A friend whose parents have since passed away was forced to work day and night to raise money to repay an accounting firm that offered a bursary in her first year of studies.

It’s a good thing that bursars demand high academic achievement, but a student cannot be charged for the past year of study of which the company agreed to settle.

Another concern is whether tertiary institutions are aware of the practice, because such transactions no longer go through them, but the student instead pays directly into the company’s bank account.

Matrics do not deserve piein-the-sky opportunities.

Joburg