At this stage in my life, I'd very much appreciate it if the burden of school fees were taken away from my life forever. It would mean a lot to me and I'll forever be grateful, which I'll show through good results as proof that free education wasn't wasted on me.
I'm very sure I'm not the only who wishes such a thing would happen. Life's already tough and a little help wouldn't hurt.
At What Price?
If the government were to make tertiary education free for students, it would require a lot of support financially for the idea to be carried out. As easy as it might seem, it's very expensive to carry out such an initiative and it can cause a country to suffer huge economic recession.
Currently, free education is given to primary and secondary schools which were founded by the government. These schools are in every local government and have high number of students and pupils. Inspire of the high number of students government funded schools get, there's still a high rise of privately owned schools everywhere.
I feel this creates a balance of some sort and it's a source of revenue for the government.
The Effects
Free higher education will have positive effects on those who know why they are in school.
It's sad to say that even now as we all are paying fees, some still don't have an idea what education can do for them.
For the ones with a positive mindset, free higher education will give them a lot of opportunities to focus on their studies without having to worry about paying any type of fees. They know that all they have to do is study hard and graduate with honors.
There will be a sense of peace that comes with the government footing the bill and it'll only show that the government cares for the future of it's citizens if done with pure intentions.
Another effect is that there would be no need to take difficult exams to qualify for scholarships. Since education will be made free in higher institutions, there wouldn't be need to seek scholarships as everyone would be able to make it through the university without any financial setback.
Scholarships are hard to come by and when one comes across it, the requirements are usually not reasonable sometimes which makes it difficult for those who really have a shot at getting it unable to apply.
A negative effect of free higher education is that given the reason that education will be free, it might be tough for students to get admitted.
Obviously students won't be handed the admission offer on a platter of gold, exams would have to be taken which may turn out to be really difficult exams that will prove to be a problem for many and the sole purpose of free education will be forfeited when a large number decide not to bother applying since they wouldn't be admitted.
Studying for free might be made difficult by the tough courses students may be made to offer since they're not paying a dime and it won't have great results for the students.
The Quality Of Teaching
I don't think the quality of teaching will be affected, as admission may be made tough for students, so will staff employment into the institution which will make teachers put on their best so as not to get fired by the government.
Government pays very well and no one is willing to lose a government paid job as a result of mediocre effort.
Proper evaluation of teachers will help ascertain how much value free higher education will have.
High value education that is free is certainly something to wish for.
Thank you for reading!
See you in the next post!