Varsities' mess: Broken promises, students in limbo as strike drags on

TUK lecturers enter Day 10 of strike over pay, working conditions and CBA implementation. [Benard Orwongo, Standard]

It is a mess that is taking a toll on university students, disrupting the learning calendar and threatening the future of thousands of students while the government seems slow to act.

The lecturers’ strike is now in its 22nd day with no sign of an end, even as the Government remains locked in a dispute over a new pay deal it had committed to resolve within a month of ending last year’s 49-day industrial action, leaving thousands of students facing another disrupted academic year.

The failure to conclude the 2025-2029 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) has returned public universities to a crisis the Government had promised to prevent.

 Students in public universities are now struggling to complete examinations, resolve missing marks, clear for graduation and establish when they can resume learning.

At the same time, the uncertainty could see some students miss graduation ceremonies as the strike impedes the clearance.

Others face extended semesters, additional time away from home and the prospect of having to wait until next year to complete academic requirements that should already have been settled.

The strike has also raised questions over the Government’s handling of collective bargaining, the role of the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) in public-sector pay reviews and the disparity between the salary adjustments proposed for university lecturers and those awarded to other public servants.

On Thursday, Education CS Julius Ogamba told The Standard that the government is pulling all the stops to end the strike and to restore learning. But this seems too little, too late, with several learning hours already wasted.

UASU SG Constantine Wasonga with Education CS Julius Ogamba in Nairobi on November 5, 2025. [Collins Oduor, Standard]

Ogamba said that negotiations are ongoing after lecturers rejected the Sh12.5 billion proposal put forward by the government.

“There is a meeting that is taking place with Treasury and our ministry, the technical teams. So all we urge is that they just be patient and we urge the students to be patient as we rush to resolve the matter. We will indeed have a resolution, just like we have done before,” the CS said.

The CS admitted to a slow pace in commencing negotiations due to delays by Treasury and the SRC.

“The negotiation for the CBA of 2025-2029 took longer than we expected because there is something called beacons that we are supposed to get from Treasury and the SRC, which delayed,” the CS said.

However, the standoff comes despite the government's initial commitment to negotiate the 2025-2029 CBA and finalise it within 30 days when lecturers called off their previous strike in November 2025 and signed the return-to-work formula.

The agreement was intended to prevent another confrontation by resolving the outstanding remuneration issues before they triggered a fresh dispute.

But a year later, the agreement remains unresolved, and lecturers are once again on strike.

The disruption by the nearly 10,000 lecturers is likely to create a backlog that universities will have to address once the strike ends.

The institutions could be forced to review their academic calendars, with lectures potentially extending beyond the scheduled semester, examinations being pushed forward and subsequent academic sessions being affected.

Thousands of students who live in university hostels may also be forced to evacuate if the strike prolongs.

UASU Secretary General Constantine Wasonga said lecturers had commenced the nationwide strike after the union exhausted avenues for negotiations over the 2025–2029 Collective Bargaining Agreement.

In a statement issued on Friday, the union said academic staff had officially commenced a nationwide strike in all of Kenya’s public universities.

The union said the dispute followed the failure to conclude the 2025–2029 CBA despite a Return-to-Work Formula signed with the Inter-Public Universities Councils Consultative Forum on November 5, 2025.

Under the agreement, the parties had committed to concluding the CBA before the end of 2025.

Under the proposal, UASU seeks an average six per cent annual salary increment during the four-year agreement running from July 2025 to June 2029.

Under the proposed structure, the highest salary notch for professors would rise from the current Sh345, 816 to more than Sh580,144 a month by 2028/29, while senior lecturers could earn Sh399,644 from the current Sh238,221.

The union is also seeking higher housing allowances, with professors proposed to receive Sh116,028 a month from the current ShSh73,715, associate professors Sh104,426 from the current Sh66,344, senior lecturers Sh92,822 (from Sh58,972) and lecturers Sh87,020 (from Sh55,286).

The union wants commuter allowances standardised at Sh60,000 a month for all academic grades except part-timers, which it proposes at Sh20,000.

Similarly, UASU is seeking a standardised monthly risk allowance of Sh30,000 for lecturers exposed to occupational hazards and higher allowances for staff undertaking extra duties.

Lecturers’ strike continues over salary increments, better working conditions and unpaid benefits. [Courtesy, Standard]

Currently, risk allowance rates vary by designation and range between Sh5,000 and Sh15,000 for staff working in laboratories and workshops.

The proposal seeks annual research grants of up to Sh5 million for professors and associate professors, and Sh4 million for senior lecturers and lecturers.

The union also wants academic staff who attract external research grants to receive a 20 per cent honorarium of the value of the grants.

The union wants higher rates for part-time teaching, proposing Sh3,000 an hour for postgraduate certificate teaching from the current Sh2,500.

For part-time lecturers teaching postgraduate and master's courses, UASU is proposing an hourly rate of Sh4 680, from the current Sh3,000.

The strike comes less than a year after public universities were hit by a prolonged industrial action that lasted 49 days.

The previous strike began on September 17, 2025, and was called off on November 5 after UASU, the Kenya Universities Staff Union (KUSU) and the Government signed a Return-to-Work Formula.

The 49-day dispute had a major impact on university operations, with learning disrupted and academic calendars affected.

This led to delayed examinations and graduations, disrupted student attachments and placed additional financial pressure on students and parents.

 Wasonga has argued that agreeing would have spared universities another shutdown, maintaining that lecturers would not have needed to strike again during the life of the new deal.

The failure has also left students paying the price for a dispute they have little control over.

At Laikipia University, Celine Kwamboka, who expects to graduate in November, said she had begun following up on missing marks before the strike but had been unable to reach the lecturer responsible for resolving the issue.

“I do not know whether the strike will end in time for me to resolve the issue and graduate as planned or whether I will have to wait another year,” she said.

Kwamboka said the uncertainty had disrupted her plans to begin applying for jobs after completing her studies, leaving her worried that she could miss employment opportunities because of a delay in receiving her degree.

“Without my degree certificate, I worry about the opportunities I could miss and what I will do during the extra year if the issue remains unresolved,” she said.

At Kibabii University, student Collins Otieno said the absence of lecturers who also serve as heads of departments had made it difficult for students to complete clearance.

Those with missing marks were also struggling to have their academic records corrected, potentially delaying their eligibility for graduation.

At the University of Nairobi, Peter Shako said the shutdown of departmental operations had similarly complicated clearance, claiming that lecturers had prevented non-teaching staff, including administrators and secretaries, from working.

“It is impossible to clear right now because the lecturers are gone and they bullied other staff from different departments not to work. No one is allowed to work, so even the department is closed,” he said.

The consequences could extend to the academic calendar itself.

Last year’s 49-day strike forced universities to adjust teaching schedules, with some students having to return in January to complete semesters that should have ended before the Christmas break.

The current strike threatens a repeat, as the loss of teaching time makes it increasingly difficult for institutions to complete the semester, administer examinations and release results within their original schedules.

This could delay progression to the next academic year, prolong students’ stay in university and push graduation dates beyond those initially announced.

Similarly, student leaders have complained about the effect the strike has on students from low-income households.

Michael Soi Ngetich, a UoN student leader, said students who depend on family support, accommodation arrangements or limited funds to remain on campus may also face additional costs if their programmes are extended.

But that’s not all; the stalemate has raised questions about the role of SRC’s involvement in salary negotiations.

The union has disputed the decision by SRC to deny them an increment of allowances and the proposed salary increase of 3 per cent.

Wasonga has accused SRC of retreating from commitments made on the harmonisation of allowances, which the union considers a key component of the new agreement.

“The next thing I want to say: you are going to harmonise allowances. We agreed. We are not talking out of the ordinary; all these things are put down in writing,” he said.

“Now come 2025, when they come to the negotiating table, they don’t want to harmonise allowances, even though SRC committed that in the 2025-2029 CBA we are going to harmonise allowances.”

The union’s criticism raises a question about how early SRC should engage employers and unions when a CBA is approaching expiry, and whether earlier guidance on affordability and remuneration could help prevent negotiations from becoming a crisis-management exercise.

The disagreement over the CBA has also exposed tensions between university management and the Government over the funding of public universities.

Wasonga accused vice-chancellors of failing to give the President an accurate picture of the financial difficulties facing their institutions.

“We have praise-and-worship vice-chancellors. They are not telling the Government the truth. Until now, the universities have collapsed. When they meet the President, they tell the President the funding model is working; when they come back to the universities, they don’t have money,” he said.

The amount offered to lecturers has become another point of contention, with the union rejecting a proposed three per cent salary increment as inadequate.

The offer is substantially below the salary adjustments implemented for teachers under the 2021-2025 CBA and those introduced for civil servants under the current public-service remuneration cycle.

Teachers received salary adjustments under the 2025 review of their CBA, with increases varying across job groups and salary points. The over 400,000 teachers under the Teachers Service Commission will this month smile all the way to the bank after the government and their unions reached a new pay deal.

The deal reached on Friday is worth Sh33 billion and will serve five years between July 2025 and June 2029.

The deal was signed by the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut), the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) and the Kenya Union of Special Needs Education Teachers (Kusnet).

The deal will see the lowest-earning teacher now get an improved basic salary of close to Sh29,000 from the current Sh23,000.

On the other hand, the highest-earning teacher will take home Sh167,415 from Sh159,000.

The deal delivers an increment of between 5 per cent and 29.5 per cent on teachers' basic salaries, with the first increment expected to be factored into the July 2025 salaries.

Implementation of the CBAs was split into two phases, with the first phase taking effect in July 2025, when they received half the increment.

The second increment is set to take effect this month.

On the other hand, civil servants under the Union of Kenya Civil Servants (UKCS) enjoyed increments ranging from approximately 14 per cent to 32 per cent over the four-year cycle, depending on the Civil Service Grading (CSG) system

In the deal, the lowest-paid civil servant now earns Sh28,690 from the previous Sh21,700.

On the other end, the highest-earning civil servants take home Sh451,494, up from Sh396,130.

Lecturers and university workers have rejected the proposed 3 per cent increment.

Wasonga has insisted that the Government cannot settle the matter by presenting a financial ceiling without allowing the parties to negotiate the terms of the agreement.

“Allow us to negotiate. Don’t impose figures on us,” he said, citing Article 41(5) of the Constitution, which recognises the right of employers and trade unions to engage in collective bargaining.