ANCYL STATEMENT ON THE CLASS OF 2017 AND FREE TERTIARY EDUCATION
The African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) congratulates all the matric class of 2017 who sat for their National Senior Certificate (NSC). Their dedication, commitment and performance brings hope that the call by ANCYL and the Progressive Youth Alliance (PYA) structures to make education fashionable is embraced by majority of young people of our country.
The ANCYL encourages 2017 matric learners who did not do well to use various opportunities that are provided by the African National Congress (ANC) led government to improve their results. The ANCYL working together with the PYA structures more so COSAS will provide necessary support to those learners to ensure that they access second chance options.
The learners who have passed in 2017 represents a historic class in South Africa as some of them particularly those coming from households earning annual income of below R350 000 will be the first group of Matriculants to access free tertiary education in 2018. All the learners from the families of the poor and working class who have passed grade 12, meet the admission criteria of tertiary institutions and have applied will receive free education.
Contrary to the doomsayers, doubters and beneficiaries of commodification of education who characterize access to free tertiary education as a cost, the ANCYL is resolute that this is a necessary investment which in a long term will contribute towards economic growth of our country and moving away most of the families from the social welfare programmes.
Education cannot be classified as unaffordable costs particularly when it has to be accessed by children of the economically marginalized. It is the responsibility of the ANC and its government to ensure that it uses access to education as a tool to eradicate inequality, unemployment and poverty.