University Students feel the heat as strike bites

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By AUGUSTINE ODUOR

The effect of the six-day strike by lecturers in public universities sank deeper yesterday as students condemned the pain inflicted on them by the actions of their vice chancellors.

Public university students had to contend with hunger, closed libraries, shuttered lecture halls and deserted offices with only days to the start of their semester examinations which are expected anytime from next week.

The Standard has established that a state of panic gripped some of the public universities as they grappled with how to manage students who were increasingly growing impatient and idle.

Egerton university was the first to ‘tactfully’ send its students home last week under what they called ‘mid-term holiday,’ as the situation slowly degenerated into a full-blown crisis.

A circular released on Monday after the university senate meeting however indicated that the main campus will remain closed until further notice.

“The senate at its meeting today (17 March 2014) has decided that the university (Njoro Campus) be closed until further notice,” reads the circular by Prof S.F.O Owido, the registrar academic affairs.

It says that all students who wish to remain at the university must register with the dean of students.

“You area aware that normal academic functions have not been taking place since the staff strike started on Wednesday March, 2014. The senate has determined that this situation may persist for sometime hereby causing students to be idle,” reads the circular sent to all staff and students of Egerton university. Maseno University Senate also held a crisis meeting yesterday to assess the effect of the strike and its potential consequences, even as the management maintained no money was misappropriated.

Reliable reports indicated that several other public universities were weighing the option of closing down and sending students away should talks between the VCs and the two university staff unions’ collapse.

“We are aware that the senates of some of these universities have been meeting with intention of a possible closure of the institutions because the talks have dragged for far too long with little success,” said a Ministry of Education official.