Can Education Be Free?

Hello, everyone!

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Welcome to my blog and another wonderful edition of the Hive Learners' featured post. No doubt education continues to do more good than harm to our society, state, country, and the world at large. Education plays a vital role, and the continuous development of our dear world and environment depends greatly on education.

Education is a foundation every parent must give their child if they want them to be great; education is the bedrock of every profession. In the Stone Age, there was no school and mankind suffered a lot, but in our modern days, education is paving the way and covering those loopholes that were the cause of mankind's suffering.

Indeed, education can be free, but I don't see the possibility of such ever happening in my country, Nigeria; instead, the opposite keeps happening as tuition fees continue to increase. Last session I paid the sum of 54,500 naira ($120), and to my greatest surprise, this session my tuition fee was increased to 99,500 naira (about $220). Every day that passes, there's an increment on our tuition fee.

Instead of making it free so everyone can attend, the tuition fee keeps increasing, and those who manage to be part of the system tend to drop out as they can no longer meet the demands of the school. It's disheartening to stop seeing a coursemate, not because they transferred to another school but because they were forced to drop out because the demands of the school are something they cannot meet up with.

There are many who wish to be educated but are struggling because their income is not enough to feed them and still send them to school. This is where free education comes into play; it gives everyone the opportunity to be partakers of the benefits that come with being literate.

The problem that comes with making education free is that it paves the way for students with a nonchalant attitude to come into the system. It's no new thing that humans don't value free things. They take free things for granted; after all, they are not paying for them, and they end up messing up the educational system.

There is no doubt free education will affect a country both negatively and positively. In my country (Nigeria), if such a thing ever happens, it will affect both the students and the teachers.

• Low Quality Education: Taking my country for example, whatever is being made free is of low quality. They might even bring in unqualified teachers to handle classes since it's free and these unqualified teachers won't charge much.

• Overpopulation: Since it's free, many who could not afford it will automatically be part of the system as they won't pay for it. There's little or no knowledge passed in a classroom that's overpopulated. During my 100-level days, the whole engineering department normally has classes in a particular hall. The day I came late and sat at the back, I learned nothing and heard nothing from the lecturer. The same happens once education is free.

There are so many other effects of free education. A lot of people are opportuned to become literate and are exposed to the modern world. I think the negative effects outweigh the positives.

Thanks for reading.