National / Education HIGHER EDUCATION Gap between white and black students has widened since 1975 BL PREMIUM

The proportion of black students progressing at universities was higher in the 1980s than it was in 2017, says statistician-general Pali Lehohla. Statistics SA released the financial statistics of higher education institutions for 2016 on Tuesday in Pretoria. 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. Meanwhile, calls are mounting for President Jacob Zuma to release the student-fees inquiry report amid rising tension on campuses over prospects for conditions in 2018. 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". Tuesday’s data release revealed that the proportion of black graduates stood at nearly 15% of black students in 1975 but has since declined to about 5%. This contrasted with the positio...