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University students idle on campus as lecturers' strike enters third week
Members of the University Academic Staff Union and the Kenya University Staff Union during a peaceful demonstration in Nairobi on September 24, 2025.
The ongoing strike by lecturers in public universities will enter the third week on Wednesday, as lecture halls remain silent and students idle on various campuses, uncertain of their fate.
The students are now worried that they may exhaust the money for their upkeep that they were given by the Higher Education Loans Board (Helb) if the strike persists.
A spot-check across institutions revealed locked lecture halls, deserted corridors, and students either confined to their hostels or aimlessly strolling around campuses, while others have left for home.
Although libraries and cafeterias remain operational, meaningful learning has ground to a halt. At the University of Nairobi (UoN), lecture halls remained shut, with only the library and student mess in operation.
“I spend my time on TikTok and other social media pages since there’s nothing else to do. Travelling back to my village in Migori is out of the question due to transport expenses,” lamented a journalism student, noting that many of her classmates had already left campus.
The strike, which began on September 17, 2025 after the Universities Academic Staff Union (Uasu) issued a seven-day strike notice, has disrupted the academic year that had barely started.
Lecturers accuse the government of failing to honour their collective bargaining agreements (CBAs). They are demanding the settlement of Sh7.9 billion outstanding from the 2017–2021 CBA and initiation of talks on the 2025–2029 CBA.
The government has since released Sh2.73 billion for Phase Two of the 2021–2025 CBA, reducing Uasu’s demands to two, but the stalemate persists.
The Cabinet Secretary for Education, Julius Ogamba, maintained that talks are ongoing to resolve the stalemate. He said that the Ministry of Education remains committed to finding a solution just as it has done in previous disputes.
“Some universities are still not teaching, but most of them are teaching even as we negotiate to resolve the outstanding issues,” he said on Monday during the opening of new hostels at PC Kinyanjui Technical Training Institute in Dagoretti South, Nairobi.
However, a visit to the Technical University of Kenya (TUK) told a different story. The campus looked deserted, with a handful of students carrying backpacks and folders to and from the library. Security guards at the gate casually inquired about visitors but little else was happening.
“I check the news and socials daily to see if the strike has been called off, then go back to idling in my rented abode while still spending on food and data,” said a second-year Bachelor of Technology Survey student, whose single mother, a tailor, is already straining to cover his tuition and rent.
For first-year students, the disruption has been especially harsh. A civil engineering student who has rented a Sh6,500-per-month hostel room revealed how the unwanted free time had created risky distractions.
“My friends now make it a routine to check social media for the next party. They pool resources and hire vehicles to shuttle them around, since Helb sent upkeep money,” she said.
Similar frustrations echoed at Kenyatta University and Egerton University, where learners warned of the dangers of compressing academic calendars to recover lost time.
“Can the government and lecturers reach a truce so we end this suffering? I fear a crash programme, which only works to students’ disadvantage,” said a statistics student from Kenyatta University.
Last week, the striking dons and staff from 42 public universities marched from the UoN graduation square to present their petition to Parliament, the National Treasury, and the Ministry of Education concerning their demands.
Armed with placards and vuvuzelas, and escorted by police, the lecturers and other university staff under Kenya University Staff Union (KUSU) sang, danced, and chanted, vowing not to return to work until their demands are fully met.
Uasu Secretary-General Constantine Wasonga insisted that Mr Ogamba, whom the union has cited for contempt of court, should honour an Employment and Labour Relations Court (ELRC) judgment on the 2017–2021 CBA that directed additional budgetary allocation for its full implementation.
“You must pay us Sh7.9 billion. You have the judgment with you, you have the advisory opinion from the Attorney-General that was dated to your office on 10th April 2025. Kindly honour that one first,” he said during the peaceful procession.
