Education is the most critical and pressing issue for the development of any country and more and more reforms are brought in this sector with the passage of time. No one denies the sheer role and significance of acim in making a better nation and a progressive world. Where many people manage to get primary and secondary education, provided free in most of the countries, it is difficult to most in getting themselves equipped with the higher or university education due to the high cost/fee. Hence, there has always been this debate of whether the university education should be free for all.
For most of the people say that it should be free as getting knowledge is a basic right and it should not come with a price tag. Most of the people cannot afford the huge cost of higher education and many of the future Einstein and Marx are wasting their abilities and talents due to the inaccessibility to the universities and university education which makes education a privilege of a particular class instead of everyone’s basic right. When more people get higher education, there will be more jobs available for them and the rate of unemployment will be reduced alleviating the poverty in the society and leading it towards advancement and prosperity. Another argument for the free university education goes with the principle of equality where everyone has a right to have equal opportunity and in making university education free, this principle of equality can be fulfilled in converting it into a reality on pragmatic grounds out of the antique box of theory. If higher education is free, thousands of young boys and girls would be able to get education instead of bearing the burden of part time jobs in fulfilling the university expanses.
There is other side of the coin too and which is not in favor of free university education that brings gargantuan burden on the shoulders of the government.
There is a lot of investment required and the cost of higher education is too high that it becomes indispensable for the people to share some of the burden of the state which does not have ample resources and money for free university education. Though there can be, as there are, more special students loans and scholarships in aid of the students who cannot afford the cost of higher education. Another argument is that if university education is free, there will be a descend in the value of higher education as there will be less money to pay for the professors and staff and many other university resources (related to technical education at higher level). Hence there is a danger of a low quality education once it has been made free for all like water in an ocean.
To conclude, where we can see many hurdles in the way of free university education we can also see the example of Germany in making its higher education free. Much can be learnt from the Germany’s experience or experimentation (hitherto to see) in making university education free for all.
