Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni has called for education to be accessible to all.
She said over the years, the government has been trying to get more people into education.
But she wants universities to increase access to education.
Ntshavheni, who was delivering the OR Tambo Annual Memorial Lecture at Unisa on Friday, said universities can do more to broaden access to higher education.
She said education can produce more inventors, scientists, and other experts in South Africa and the continent.
She said there were certain things that would need to be done to get more people into higher education.
“The first is investing in education. Access to education is a cornerstone of intellectual progress. We must prioritise education from early childhood to higher learning, ensuring that every African child has the opportunity to realise their potential.
“This investment will create a generation of critical thinkers, inventors, and problem solvers. As South Africa we today know from Census 2022 that 16.4 million of children are in early childhood learning, but we are concerned about the 5.3 million children who are not participating in the early childhood development programme. For this reason, we are working on measures to make sure they are participating.
“Today I would have been proud to report to president OR Tambo that 30 years later, the number of children with no access to education has declined to just 6.9%; the number of children completing Grade 12 has increased to 37.6% from a mere 16% in 1996. Post-school graduates have grown to 12.2%,” said Ntshavheni.
She said they can build on what has been done in the last few decades.
The growing population in the country would need more young people to study to contribute to the economy.
South Africa and the continent need to invest in quality education to empower the next generation.
They need to create a generation of researchers, scientists, and those involved in innovation.
siyabonga.mkhwanazi@inl.co.za
Politics