The Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) and other institutions which support it in setting the pay for civil servants should find a permanent solution to the persistent strikes by university lecturers.
This is because the aftermath of the strikes brings agony to the 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.
This, in turn, causes a lot of problems for the students, who pay a lot of money in fees to be given quality education.
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.
In March 2018, the lecturers went on strike, which saw several students affected, especially the ones who had structured and planned for their industrial attachments.
The semester was also shortened, which ended up compromising quality learning in most of the public universities. The students who were to be on vacation were also affected.
Since the Universities Academic Staff Union (Uasu) Secretary-General Constantine Wasonga had warned, quite early, of the likelihood of the strike starting today, the government should address the issues raised by the tutors as soon as possible to avert the unforeseen consequences of the looming industrial action.
According to Uasu officials, the CBA figures are inaccurate and they have demanded that the Inter-Public Universities Consultative Forum (IPUCCF) and SRC correct the anomaly.
As Dr Wesonga proclaimed, 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 result of the strike. This happens when parents of some of the affected students transfer their children to universities and other institutions of higher learning abroad.
I therefore suggest that the lecturers’ strike be rationally thought about and combated before it happens.
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.
