Students were better off in 1980s, says statistics chief

The proportion of black students progressing at universities was higher in the 1980s than it was in 2017, according to Statistician-General Pali Lehohla, who released the financial statistics of higher education institutions for 2016 in Pretoria last week, writes Michelle Gumede for Business Day.

The figures showed that funding was increasing, but that the additional money provided by the government was still not enough to fill the gap in tertiary education. The statistician-general, whose term ends soon, said that conditions for learning under apartheid for black South Africans were much more conducive than they are now, "so whites continue to outperform black students".

Last Tuesday’s data release revealed that the proportion of black graduates stood at nearly 15% in 1975 but has since declined to about 5%. This contrasted with the position for the white population, now at least 5% higher. Lehohla said that back then there were many institutions of learning for black students and also opportunities across the world to study while in exile. Those black students were often fully funded and so able to compete and perform well, he said.
Full report on the Business Day site