This archive report was first published on 6 January 2020.
As the country grapples with the aftermath of the 2018 university lecturers' strike, it is imperative that the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) and other institutions supporting it find a permanent solution to the persistent strikes.
Published on January 6, 2020, the strikes have brought agony to students and parents, and even to the lecturers themselves. The failure by universities to implement the 2017-2021 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) with the lecturers has led to continuous strikes and boycotts of work by the dons.
According to the Universities Academic Staff Union (Uasu), the CBA figures are inaccurate, and they have demanded that the Inter-Public Universities Consultative Forum (IPUCCF) and SRC correct the anomaly. Dr Constantine Wesonga, Uasu Secretary-General, proclaimed that it is paradoxical that the over 40 accountants who computed the figure of Sh13.8 billion could be wrong as SRC disputes the figure.
The industrial action by the lecturers will cause postponements of students' graduation and make lecturers to squeeze the semester session, leading to rush hour teaching, which makes students to cram the units in order to pass the examinations. Universities' revenues also decline as a result of the strike, when parents of some of the affected students transfer their children to universities and other institutions of higher learning abroad.
It is high time the government ensured the return-to-work formula is honoured so as to end the almost annual ritual of strikes once and for all. The Ministry of Education, Uasu, and IPUCCF should have a sit-down and come to an agreement to permanently resolve such strikes. This will rejuvenate and facilitate quality higher education.
