African press review 26 October 2015

South African students press ahead with #FeesMustFall protest despite Presidential moratorium on new hikes. And experts warn President Buhari about the dangers of negotiating with Boko Haram; and Kenya's education efforts beset by record numbers of dropouts.

We start with the South African newspapers and their coverage of the #FeesMustFall campaign after President Zuma scrapped plans to raise university tuition fees. The Guardian reports that Zuma’s retracting of the directive was made at a meeting with students leaders. This was after more than 10,000 people gathered at the Union Building in Pretoria last Friday to press the demands. Universities had proposed fee rises of up to 11.5% next year, arguing they need higher fees to keep up standards.

It was the largest single student protest since the 1976 Soweto uprising –and participants represented a broad cross-section of the country’s racial groups and political parties.

Cape Times reports that the cabinet and Treasury had been reconsidering implementing a fee-free higher education policy but were held back by the heavy cost. The paper quotes Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande as saying that the government would need to raise 100 billion rand (6 billion euros) for the reform, according to a a report submitted to him in 2013.

More so Nzimande also indicated that there would need to be a working definition of poor people in South Africa, and consideration given to the “missing middle”, where some families do not earn enough to be considered for loans by financial institutions.

Mail and Guardian says the spreading protests ultimately are much more than just fees. According to the paper, they are about the diminishing hopes of South African youth.

Punch has some advice for President Muhammadu Buhari who has hinted about his willingness to negotiate with Boko Haram insurgents, if they show proof that the Chibok girls are alive. While there are no signs yet that the Islamists are interested in such a deal, two leading UK experts on terrorism, have advised the Federal Government not to talk with the violent Islamic sect.

Afzal Ashraf and Richard Barrett, at the Royal United Services Institute for Defence, warn that Boko Haram are anti-intellectual and therefore unlikely to respond to pragmatic political negotiations.

Kenya’s Daily Nation expresses serious concern over the high number of dropouts among primary school pupils in the country despite the introduction of free education.
This was after the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) said that while 1.3 million children joined primary schools at the start of free primary education program in 2003, only 875,300 made it to standard eight.

More dropped out before completing secondary education despite the government’s move to subsidise costs by absorbing tuition costs in all public day and boarding schools.

The Institute of Economic Affairs notes that dropouts are more at primary school level than in secondary schools which are in dire need of expansion due to the few vacancies available.