Students delay graduation as lecturers continue with strike

If everything had gone as planned, Rose Odary would have graduated from the University of Nairobi last year with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and Communication.

But due to recurrent lecturers’ strikes, the 23-year-old still has months to go before she can hold that precious certificate and begin 'tarmacking' – that gruelling exercise of knocking on office doors in search of a job.

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Ms Odary is frustrated. She is also uncertain about her future because, with this latest strike, she is not sure when she might go back to class to complete her course work.

All that stands between her and her graduation gown is one semester’s worth of work. But, as she has learnt the hard way, a single semester could take an entire year to complete.

“Between January last year and January this year, we were only able to complete one semester as the school calendar kept on being interrupted by lecturers’ and students’ strikes, as well as the election.

"And now, the final semester that was supposed to start last week will have to be deferred again because of another strike. At this rate, I have no idea when I will graduate,” she said.

TEACHING

Hadassah Saya, 22, a final year Bachelor of Science Geospatial Information student at Technical University of Kenya, Nairobi, is not happy either.

She was supposed to start her last semester this week but the lecturers announced a strike before she attended a single class, leaving her whiling away the time in residential halls, crossing her fingers that the lecturers will get back to work soon enough to allow her to finish her course work and industrial attachment in time to graduate in December.

But other than the frustration of a possible delayed graduation, Ms Saya is also concerned about the quality of education she has received in the past few months, saying she felt lecturers had glossed over some topics as they rushed to finish the semester, which was interrupted during last year’s September to November lecturers’ strike.

“The teachers packed three months’ worth of work into January and half of February, teaching at a speed that left some of us reeling. I definitely do not feel like I got my money’s worth for that semester,” she said.

EXAMS

But while Ms Saya’s semester was compressed to allow her the possibility of graduating in time, Ms Leyla Maina, who studies Pharmacy at the University of Nairobi, simply does not have that option.

Medical school, perhaps because of how academically rigorous it is, does not allow lecturers to shorten teaching time.

They must teach the required number of hours, meaning that if two months are lost because of a strike, then two months are added to the teaching time.

And this is why Ms Maina, who should have completed her fourth year course work by now, is a year behind. She finished her third year examinations in January.

“I was supposed to start those exams in June last year but the lecturers went on strike on the very day we were to sit our first paper.

"So we had to go home, went through the election in August, then got back to school to sit the exams in September.

"But before we could finish the papers, the lecturers went on another strike, so we had to come back to school in January to sit the remaining papers. I was on exam mode for eight months and I am tired,” she told the Sunday Nation.

LECTURES

But the problems in University of Nairobi’s School of Pharmacy go beyond strikes, as students are frequently required to sit out an entire year to allow the class ahead of them to proceed since there aren’t enough resources to have all classes in the school at the same time. Sounds complex? Maina tries to explain.

“They sent us on holiday in October and we are supposed to be back this June. That’s a 10-month holiday, instead of the usual four months, because the students ahead of us had to finish fourth year first before they would allow us to start our fourth year.

"Otherwise, they would have had two classes in the same year, which would have been beyond the school’s capacity,” she said.

It is a bad system that holds all the students back, forcing them to spend more time in school than they anticipated.

“There is no end in sight. It feels like being a perpetual student. We have an already bad situation being exacerbated by frequent strikes and we can no longer even estimate a graduation date,” she said.

SCHOOL FEES

Parents, too, are feeling the effect of interrupted semesters, and on top of worrying about their children’s future, they are concerned about the financial cost of keeping a child in school longer than they planned.

“The schools may not charge us extra fees for lost semesters, but we still have to shell out money for our children’s upkeep and accommodation, which puts a strain on the budget,” Ms Nancie M’Nanu, a single parent whose daughter is a first year Bachelor of Science student at Egerton University, Njoro, said.

“Having my daughter home when she is supposed to be at school also pushes my bills up, since I now have to budget for two people.”

But even more than the cost, M’Nanu is worried about her child being idle at home, afraid that she might get into mischief.

“I have tried my best to bring up a disciplined child and she is generally well-mannered but I can’t help worrying that the longer she stays at home instead of in school, the higher the chance that she might get into trouble.

"I have no idea what she gets up to when she is alone, and I do not have the resources to enrol her for short courses in private colleges,” she said.

SALARIES

The lecturers started their fourth strike in a year last week and have vowed not to go back to class unless the government submits a counter-offer on their salary and allowance increase for 2017-2021.

Egerton University Students Association chairman Silas Makokha says the government has to take the talks with university staff seriously.

“We are being inconvenienced much. Those that are in private universities have concluded their studies,” Mr Makokha said.

Moi University student leader Isaac Choge said those admitted at the institution in early 2013 are yet to complete their studies.

“Some were supposed to have completed their studies and graduated in December last year but have just begun their first semester in fourth year. A solution must be found. We are running out of patience,” he said.

NEGOTIATION

Universities Academic Staff Union Secretary-General Constantine Wasonga admits that students and parents have been inconvenienced by the strikes.

However, Dr Wasonga blames the government saying since last year it has been non-committal when it comes to negotiations.

“We made a proposal to the government on February 2017 [but] the government has not submitted a counter-proposal. Strike is the language the government understands and we will not go back,” he said.

In March, July and August last year, lecturers went on strike paralysing learning in universities, forcing many to close down and reorganise their academic calendars.

ACADEMIC CALENDAR

At the University of Nairobi, the academic calendar that was to end in December was pushed to January this year while examinations had to be suspended at Kenyatta University due to the strike.

Labour Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yattani says lecturers should give dialogue a chance, adding that the strike will hurt the country’s economy and students.

“No investor will be willing to start a business in our country if the labour market is not stable,” he said.

STUDENT LOANS

Inter-Public Universities Councils Consultative Forum chairman Paul Kanyari accuses the employees of failing to take into account the plight of students.

“As universities, we have to consult various officers before tabling the offer and, therefore, reason should prevail among the lecturers,” Prof Kanyari, who is also the chairman of Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, said.

Education Chief Administrative Secretary Simon Kachapin said the government is committed to ending the strike, which enters its second week on Monday.

“By going on strike before talks could be concluded, lecturers created an unnecessary crisis,” he said.

Education Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang last week told MPs that Sh99 billion had been allocated to universities to cater for students’ loans and bursaries, the collective bargaining agreement and development of infrastructure.

However, he did not give details on how much would be spent on salaries.