Strikes, missing marks and administrative failures are turning the dream of a degree into an ordeal
By Finnessy Okello
Kenya’s public universities are cracking, and it is students who are absorbing the damage. Strikes, missing examination marks, delayed graduations and dysfunctional administrative offices have turned what should be a transformative academic journey into a prolonged exercise in frustration — and nobody in authority appears sufficiently alarmed.
When lecturers down tools, students do not stop paying rent, transport costs or loan repayments. Academic calendars collapse, examinations are postponed and course completion dates stretch indefinitely. For students from low-income families, every additional month at university is a financial crisis, not merely an inconvenience.
The examination system compounds the problem. Students wait months for results, often without any communication on timelines. Missing marks block registration for subsequent units, delay graduation and disrupt employment plans. The situation worsens where part-time lecturers — relied upon heavily to plug staffing gaps — withhold results following payment disputes. Students who completed their coursework find themselves penalised for an institutional failure entirely beyond their control.
Administrative offices, which exist to resolve such difficulties, frequently make things worse. Students seeking clarity on fee balances or missing marks are sent from office to office, spending time and money on visits that yield nothing.
University management and government cannot treat these failures as routine. Lecturers must be paid on time, administrative systems must function and examination records must be protected regardless of employment disputes. Public universities were built to open doors. Right now, too many remain firmly shut.
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