Several tertiary institutions are reeling in a wave of strikes forcing closure

Kenyatta University students straded outside their campus after it was closed indefinitely when they went on strike demanding to be attended to by their lecturers who had gone on strike (Photo: Jenipher Wachie|Standard)

Various reasons push students to stage demonstrations. Often, this is the end result of challenges left unaddressed or failure of university administrations to address issues affecting students.

Every year, universities admit new students and churn out graduates into the job industry in equal measure. Some of these freshmen and women find challenges that their seniors endured but were never be addressed.

With school fees continually hiking, inefficiency is eventually met with opposition.

Hashtag samples a few current cases to highlight the real situation on the challenges affecting students.

Daystar University  

Daystar University closed its Nairobi and Athi River campuses indefinitely following students unrest. The Vice-Chancellor Prof Timothy Wachira, in a letter addressed to the students, said the student governments refused to enter into dialogue with the senate, management and council over the unrest.

However, Nairobi Campus Students President Aloys Laven Otieno and Athi River President Karwitha Karimi refuted the claims of student’s unrest and termed it as a peaceful boycott of classes protesting deplorable conditions in the learning institution.

Prof Wachira tenure in office has witnessed three strikes, the latest being boycotting of classes. Students have since expressed their dissatisfaction calling for his resignation over concerns about institutional problems and poor leadership.

According to Aloys, the student government called for a ‘baraza’ in mid- November with the Senate but their efforts was thwarted following the absence of the VC who had been invited for three similar engagements to address student’s issues.

“The last time Prof Wachira attended a student ‘baraza’ at Athi River Campus was in August 2015,” says Aloys.

Later, after the snub, the student body gave up on dialogue with Prof Wachira and opted for the boycott aimed at getting the varsity’s council’s attention to convene students to present their grievances.

“There is lack of goodwill among the management to address the tabled grievances by students,” says Karimi.

The concerns raised by the student body include poor services; hostel and student facilities such as the gym that are dilapidated yet money was set aside to fix the facilities, inadequate faculty and facilities yet the management sunk Sh40 million into a law school that has to date not admitted a single student.

In some instances, undergraduate and diploma students sit in the same class yet this is against Commission for University Education (CUE) policy.

The student leaders questioned how Prof Wachira suspended the student’s government on the second day of the boycott terming it unconstitutional due to lack of quorum of the Senate and the University Council.

“The student government has not been given an opportunity to engage with Council (in quorum) as had been demanded by the full student body the day earlier,” says Aloys.

Despite the heavy contingency of police officers deployed to quell any disorder, student leaders says they peacefully communicated their objections to senior management members present.

The boycott was not without incident as students were teargassed and forced out from the campus. 

Kenya University Staff Union (KUSU) lecturers demonstrate along Nairobi's streets, June 6, 2017. (Photo:Elvis Ogina|Standard)

Kenyatta University

It all started during the delegate’s election to choose the executive council of the student’s council. However, the situation turned sour after a section of students disrupted the elections over alleged discrepancies on the conduct of the election.

According to Samuel Were, the Chair of the Kenyatta University Students Association, the University Amendment Act remains a challenge among students.

“It is a major problem likely to create more problems as it intends to address only a specific section. It is a law that was seemingly enacted to contain one individual - Babu Owino,” says Were.

Regardless of Kenyatta University being at the forefront of sorting the accommodation shortage by erecting additional hostels, the situation is still wanting as the number of students being admitted every year continues to surge.

“Private Public partnership was implemented to spearhead construction of hostels, but the situation is currently out of hand given the high percentage of students the school is accommodating,” says Were.

The situation has forced a section of students to seek accommodation outside the varsity premises raising concerns about their security.

Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology

Students of Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology are unhappy over the silence by the administration on issues they have been facing.

This is in spite of a meeting held between Jomo Kenyatta University Students Association and the administration on the emerging issues affecting the students.

Complaints include poor lighting along the streets and lecture halls, fee increment, lack of WIFI, games allowances, gate D opening, and insufficient lecture halls, seats and laboratory equipment.

According to Asman Robinson, a fifth-year student pursuing Civil Engineering, some of the issues can be addressed and solved in a sober manner without getting out of hand.

After a two-week ultimatum to the management to act, students took to the streets.  Anti-riot police were called in to ensure the matter did not get out of hand. The institution was closed indefinitely.

Technical University of Mombasa

Daniel Otieno, a Journalism and Mass Communication student at Technical University of Mombasa describes lack of accommodation in the institution as the biggest handicap facing the student population.

“Students get robbed daily at Mshomoroni and Kisauni. The lecturers’ strike has further compounded the situation since students have been paying rent for private hostels and daily upkeep with learning being paralysed.”

Otieno also decries failure of a dispensary and ambulance operating 24-hours-long that can be used during emergency situations.

“Our dispensary is not well-equipped as it only offers painkillers and not even first aid,” says Otieno.

Additionally, he notes outdated learning equipment’s, bedbugs in hostels, missing marks in some departments and increased school fees as key problems that require addressing if the institution is to develop.

“We have had an Acting Vice-Chancellor for too long and it’s paramount that a new VC be appointed or the Ag. VC confirmed as full Vice-Chancellor,” he concludes.