Kenya can end constant disruptions at its universities

Persistent disruptions of Kenya’s university education affect learning, a key activity in the process of generating quality human capital for development.

However, the causes of these disruptions are known and can be minimised, if not eliminated.

University staff, especially lecturers, are among the most underpaid when we relate salaries to qualifications and productivity.

No wonder, breakdowns in negotiations for higher salaries often lead to strikes.

JUSTIFICATION

Internal disharmony between students and management is another cause for disruptions.

Then there are events or incidents that characterise the general society — including unforeseen violence by the university community or terrorism perpetuated by evil-minded elements.

One way of addressing these is to harmonise the earnings of public workers and peg them on qualifications and experience.

In this era of globalisation and internationalisation of labour practices, there is no plausible justification for disparities in salaries and other perks for public workers with similar qualifications.

HARMONISED

In India, public servants enjoy harmonised earnings, wherever they work.

Kenyans expected the Salaries and Remuneration Commission to develop a pay policy to remove the glaring and irritating disparities in earnings of civil servants.

It is only in Kenya where a university graduate entering the public service earns twice or thrice his professor!

ALLOWANCES

Dons will be motivated to concentrate on their research and teaching when their salaries are as attractive as those of other suitably qualified Kenyans, irrespective of their stations.

The only difference between earnings should be in special allowances for risks and special tasks for certain categories of workers.

Members of the security sector, particularly the police, should be handsomely rewarded and housed — if fairly recruited from among highly trained and skilled Kenyans.

MEDIOCRITY

Secondly, some of the issues raised by students in public universities can easily be addressed if management became more accountable.

Unfortunately, in a number of institutions of higher learning and agencies in education, tribalism, mediocrity or sheer incompetency abound.

With consistent and proactive management, implementation of the recent reforms instituted by a revamped Commission of University Education, as well as careful selection of top university managers, would improve efficiency.

APATHY

Thirdly, it is possible that some public departments and agencies suffer from institutional failure — whereby, either they lack capacity to carry out their mandates or are simply not fully functional due to apathy, laziness or even corruption.

Most incidents can be addressed by adequate and timely sharing of intelligence between relevant agencies and education institutions.

Fourth, Kenya’s first national goal of education is to “foster nationalism, patriotism and promote national unity”.

Kenyans belong to different communities, races and religions but that need not divide them as a people.

RADICALISATION

It is a paramount duty of education to help the youth to acquire a sense of nationhood by removing conflicts and promoting mutual respect.

If patriotism were imbibed among Kenyans at an early age, radicalisation of youth would not be a threat to our security.

It is time to stem the disquiet among lecturers, who have invested heavily in acquisition of knowledge and skills that are, however, not well tapped.

Dr Riechi is a policy analyst and senior lecturer in economics of education at the University of Nairobi. [email protected]