UNIVERSITY OF JOBURG TRAGEDY

The Democratic Alliance is shocked and saddened by the reported death by the mother of an applicant at the University of Johannesburg.

I have visited the UJ campus and seen for myself the scenes of chaos of the many thousands of applicants.

The university should have organised this better, but the underlying problem is that many of the applicants have sadly unrealistic expectations as their marks are not good enough for admittance.

Many of them should rather enrol at the Further Education and Training (FET) colleges, but these colleges need to dramatically improve their pass rate so that they can attract more applicants. Two of the reasons for the long queues at UJ are the lack of adequate career guidance at secondary level and a lack of confidence in FETs.  

The DA expresses condolences to the family of the deceased, and we hope that the situation is handled better in future.

Statement by Khume Ramulifho, DA Gauteng Education Spokesperson, January 10 2012

Click here to sign up to receive our free daily headline email newsletter