If President Jacob Zuma could be a dictator, he would make education "more than compulsory".

"If you just give me six months to be a dictator, things will be straight," Zuma told pupils and parents at Marhulana Primary School in Tembisa, one of the oldest schools in the country, on Wednesday.

"At the moment to take a decision, you need a resolution or petition. If it was up to me, education would be more than compulsory."

Zuma would ensure that the unemployed went back to school and pupils bunking school would be locked up.

"If you are found walking in the streets, police would stop you and ask what is it that you're getting in the streets and not at school. If it was up to me, we would put stronger measures to ensure that in 30 years' time no one would be uneducated," he said.

Ruling with an iron fist would result in drastic changes in the country. Those who did not want to be educated were creating problems and adding to already high levels of unemployment. People should look at what skills the economy needed and study to acquire those.

"Without education, you will be walking without balance. You are a problem instead of a solution. You don't care about life," Zuma said.