Frequent strikes dim allure of public university education

The prospect of joining a public university in Kenya is no longer as prestigious as it used to be in the 1980s or 1990s when a university degree was viewed as a magic pass in the labour market. So bad is the situation now that in 2024, the Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Services (KUCCPS) reported that 7,640 candidates who qualified for university degrees chose to join Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions. ]

Some 6750 candidates opted for institutions like Kenya Medical Training Colleges (KMTCs) and Teachers Training Colleges (TTCs). About 18,500 candidates opted to join private universities.

This growing trend is influenced by the perception that TVET institutions provide market-ready skills and knowledge that are acquired in serene and less disruptive learning environments than what obtains at public universities. Pundits have argued that this trend might equally be signalling declining confidence in the quality of education at public universities.

Perhaps unknown to the higher education stakeholders, frequent strikes systematically compromise the quality of education and ultimately undermine the social fabric of a country. The negative effects of strikes on students are numerous. Studies have reported disrupted learning due to unstable environments, and reduced quality of education, leading to "half-baked" learners who focus more on cramming for exams instead of genuine comprehension.

Besides, there are issues of academic delays due to postponed assessments and exams, forcing extensions of academic calendars, delayed graduations and lengthening of academic programmes. Inevitably, students, especially from poor families, face emotional and financial burdens due to uncertainty and disrupted budgets for accommodation, meals and other subsistence needs, often causing drop-outs and lower graduation rates.

Frequent and prolonged strikes create a destabilised environment which is detrimental to the overall quality of education in the country. Strikes occasion financial hardships on university staff due to missed salaries.

Other studies show that strikes can decrease student motivation and affect long-term retention of knowledge. The dons also feel unappreciated for their efforts when they have to resort to strikes for their grievances to be addressed. As a result, the dons begin to give lacklustre services to the students as they explore other income-generating opportunities away from the universities.

There are also systemic consequences of strikes. From a broader perspective, strikes can have long-term negative consequences, affecting the entire education sector, and, potentially, even the future employment prospects of graduates. Even more grave is the diminishing competitiveness of Kenyan public university graduates as the global academic and labour spaces begin to view them with skepticism.

Consequently, Kenyan graduates might start facing hurdles in their quest for admission into prestigious graduate schools and lucrative work opportunities abroad. The result will be reduced global visibility of the country, and a significant drop in diaspora remittances. Advanced societies long realised the critical role of education in facilitating meaningful development conversations through intelligent interrogation of policy options, thus fostering responsible governance.

An educated populace ensures that those who govern society respect the tenets of the social contract, and in the process embed civic responsibility in their decisions and actions. Also, education is a potent tool for managing the security of a country, as educated citizens have higher chances of contributing more meaningfully to economic productivity and social cohesion.

So, Kenya, should stop viewing expenditure in higher education as an expenditure, but rather as an investment whose returns have far-reaching implications for societal transformation. Many societies, including India, China, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia and others, have leveraged education to break the circles of poverty in our lifetime, proving that an educated populace is a huge economic resource.

Today, the Silicon Valley and other tech-hubs across the world are full of highly competitive graduates from these Asian countries. The benefits accruing to these countries from targeted investment in education are simply unfathomable. What is common among all societies that have modernised their education systems in recent times is quality learning delivered in serene and tranquil environments.

Kenya cannot afford to keep disrupting its education and learning processes through frequent strikes while expecting admirable outcomes. Beautiful education outcomes and chaos are mutually exclusive; they simply do not exist side-by-side. Kenya must get its act together if the objectives of education are to be realised.

There are many tested strategies for strike prevention which can be successfully contextualised for Kenya.

1. Strengthen social dialogue. Create robust and continuous platforms for negotiations, consultations, and information exchange between the government and university management and staff unions to ensure all parties' objectives are aligned.

2. Implement fair and timely salary increases that reflect cost of living and productivity of academic staff;

3. Ensure a realistic staff-to-student ratio. Currently, the ratio is approximately 1: 40, which is a huge disparity from the global best practice of about 1:10, with different ratios applicable depending on specific disciplines.

4. Ensure universities receive adequate and sustainable funding to meet budgetary requirements;

5. Establish transparent and dynamic salary review models that account for inflation, cost of living and competitive market for academic staff;

6. Improve conflict resolution mechanisms by: i) developing structured procedures for addressing and resolving disputes before they escalate to a strike; ii) promoting collaborative relationships that shift away from confrontational dynamics, and build a climate of mutual understanding and partnerships among the stakeholders; iii) engaging staff in proactive policy development, to create a sense of ownership, and iv) ensure government responsiveness in honouring collective agreements to prevent accumulation of unresolved grievances.

In conclusion, it should be observed that frequent strikes by university staff undermine the global credibility of Kenya's higher education. The consequences are grave not only for the graduates but also for the country and its institutions. The University Academic Staff Union, universities and the government must explore better mechanisms for resolving their disputes.

Professor Ongore is a Public Finance and Corporate Governance Scholar based at the Technical University of Kenya. [email protected]