SOUTH AFRICA

Cost of education rises double that of inflation
The cost of education rose by 9.3% in March compared to March last year. This is 5.3% higher than the headline inflation figure of 4% year-on-year for the same month, according to Statistics SA data, writes Ntsakisi Maswanganyi for BDLive.Old Mutual estimated that if a child started Grade R this year, a complete education – including primary school, high school and three years of university – would cost just less than R1 million (US$83,600) for public school tuition or R2.2 million (US$184,000) for private school tuition (in nominal terms).
Statistics SA acknowledged – as has been said by unions calling for free tertiary education – that rising costs were a barrier to education. The agency’s latest General Household Survey shows that 33% of individuals up to the age of 24 cited a lack of money as the reason for not attending an educational institution.
Full report on the BDLive site