Approximately fifty-one percent of South Africa’s youth, aged 18 to 24 years old, do not have the financial means to pay for tertiary education, according to Statistics South Africa (StatsSA), and more than 1.4 million youth reported that they did not attend any South African educational institution as they did not have the money for registration and tuition fees.
Furthermore, 18% of those who were not attending educational institutions attributed it to poor academic performance in high school. It seems the higher education system still has challenges. In light of this, Emadlangeni Municipality Mayor, Councillor ML Buthelezi, met with five beneficiaries who were awarded with bursaries from the Mayor’s Tertiary Registration Assistance programme which is intended to assist them with their entry into university. The Mayor mentioned that out of 23 applications received, 18 benefited from the programme. He also mentioned that the remainder were applications for post-graduate studies and that the programme was intended for undergraduate courses, however, he did not dismiss the possibility of increasing the scale of the programme to accommodate post-graduates in the future.
He further encouraged those who have received the registration assistance to utilise this opportunity and to use their full potential as this is a chance for them to get ahead in life in their respective choices. “There are different challenges that they will face as they embark on a new journey, and their success will bear great results when their studies are completed,” said Mayor Buthelezi. The Mayor also spoke of the depressing sight that is youth who have engulfed themselves in drugs and alcohol which in turn is killing the prospects that he has for the future leaders of this country.
He said he is currently looking at increasing the number of approved applicants in the future so that these gaps can be covered by getting as many kids as they can to refrain from drug and alcohol abuse or to leave those lifestyles behind to seek better prospects and become valuable and contributing members of society. Mdumiseni Zwane, one of the beneficiaries, expressed his excitement and gratitude as he has already been registered for a National Diploma in Electrical Engineering. The Mayor’s Tertiary Registration Assistance programme has assisted him greatly and he said he takes the opportunity with both hands and thanks the Mayor for this incredible initiative.
