Strikes over pay rows if un-resolved could heavily disrupt national examinations slated for term three, as teachers and lecturers have already issued a strike threat. Candidates who are set to sit for the KCSE examination in October will be hard hit in case classes are disrupted due to lack of a settlement.
The Universities Academic Staff Union announced a countrywide strike notice in light of delayed and incomplete salary payment to academic staff. The move follows just after the just-concluded meeting of the union National Executive Committee following complaints that public universities have delayed lecturers while failing to remit deductions for loans, pension schemes, and other financial obligations.
This is after similar threats aired by the Kenya National Union of Teachers and that of the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers. Both unions declared they would strike from 26th August 2024 to demand the second phase of the 2021-2025 Collective Bargaining Agreement and other unresolved issues.
The threat of strikes presents the new Education Cabinet Secretary, Julius Migos Ogamba, with a challenge by way of interfering with the planning and administration of the national examination.
Equally facing financial constraint are public universities, whose accrued arrears amount to Sh84 billion, coupled with the new student financing model that came in force last year. The threats of strikes have spiked fears over the strain to which university education will be placed in the face of delayed remunerations and increasing financial strain on academic staff.
While at Moi University, lecturers are yet to receive July salaries, and union officials have engaged in demonstrations demanding pay for contract and casual workers. University staff had been under financial strain, an issue that had led some members of staff to be taken to court by financial institutions over defaulted loans incurred due to non-remittance by the university.
The development spotlights the unending financial crisis that has engulfed the education sector in Kenya, with looming strikes that could further destabilize the academic calendar and the national exams.