The South African education system is under considerable pressure to provide access and quality education to its people and altogether this can be achieved through drastic transformation in our education system. Starting from secondary education carried onto tertiary.  The prolific challenge faced today our secondary education overflows to tertiary levels and to the cooperate market primarily because of a few pointers contributing to this dilemma faced by South Africa, namely:

·         The role of universities in providing quality education

·         The low and middle class not having the financial muscle further studies

·         A dire need for further development of this education sector

·         Establishing more universities with facilities that can accommodate enormous quantities of pupils.

The problem that I see is faced by many universities is the second bullet point, students from poor families not being able to further or complete their degrees because of finances. Especially in the university of the Free State, I say this because it is where I am registered so I know what my fellow students are facing. Solutions can be that first The university can have 0% increment in their fees because the increase of fees is main factor of the protests of the #FeesMustFall, where students were protesting violently so that the university and the government can hear and help with their concerns. The 0% increment will allow students to complete their degrees and be able to afford the fees and not forgetting the university will still make money and not lose in the process.

The second solution can be that government to increase funding in terms of NSFAS and bursaries, it can do this by stopping wasteful spending and relocate that money to tertiary education. Universities can look for opportunities in cutting costs and increasing efficiencies, by looking at how the system can be changed while maintaining high quality of education.

The third solution is the university can compile a list of students who are really struggling financially and let them pay half of the fees but that is not ideal because it will not be fair on the other students who are doing the same courses and the school will not be making enough money like it is used to and will not have enough to pay for enough lectures.

My name is Makopano Caroline Sefume, I am 24 years old and am a student at the University of the Free state, studying Media Studies and Journalism, currently doing my last year. I am the last born of 7 children, I have 1 brother and 1 sister from my Father’s side and I have 1 sister and 3 brothers from my Mother’s side, I bring my mom’s kids and dad’s kids and their families together that is why my name is Makopano meaning Unite. I lost my Dad in 2009 when I was just 16 years old and I am only left with my mother, I am originally from Klerksdorp I the North West and I did History, Geography, Mathematical literacy and Afrikaans in Are-Fadimeheng high school.

I have always loved the Media, from magazine, newspapers, radio and television…especially television. I wanted to do Drama and theatre arts when I came to the university because I love acting and movies then I changed to media studies because I felt it is broad enough and has sufficient career choices, still in the same line of career I wanted. My favourite T.V right now is Trending SA because it tackles everything trending in South Africa which is something useful for a journalist, that way a me as a potential journalist I will know what people are interested in and where to get my target audience. I would like to work as a director, because I believe that directing is an important factor in movies because it makes the audience believe in what the script writer wanted to convey in their script; or I would like to become a radio DJ and have my own show, where I will talk about topics that people believe are taboo because I believe some topics should be discussed; things like Racism, sex and corruption.

What I fear most is losing my mother because I am only felt with her and my other fear is that I will not reach my dreams and full potential. My favourite animals are Dolphins and snakes, I hate animals with fur because it makes me feel uncomfortable when touching their fur. I am shy and sometimes cannot make friends but once I am free and close to people ,I become the most loud and friendly person I know. I have a belly ring piercing and an infinity sign tattoo on my back an I planning another  one soon, my family considers me as the rebel of the family and free spirited and let me just say I wear that with pride. To me FAITH, LOVE, FAMILY AND FREEDOM are the most important things to me.