UoN Main Campus./FILE
University students have called for a meeting to press for a solution in the ongoing lecturers' strike that enters its second month on Wednesday.
The University of Nairobi (UoN) student leadership is mobilising students from all universities around the capital to congregate tomorrow at the main campus for a procession.
University of Nairobi Students Association (UNSA) in a memo titled ‘Education under Siege’ complain that students are suffering as the fourth week of the dons’ industrial action comes to an end.
“Its now the fourth week since activities were suspended. Classes remain paralysed, timetables disrupted and learning at a standstill. All due to the ongoing lecturers’ strike; an impasse between lecturers and the government,’ UNISA Secretary General’s Elisha Wasike memo dated 13th October 2025 states.
It adds; “Our comrades have exhausted their upkeep and Helb funds, yet studies remain halted. As the saying goes, when elephants fight, as the grass that suffers, and indeed, we students are the grass trampled upon.”
Wasike said that students refuse to suffer silently as the government, university administration and lecturers engage in endless back-and-forth negotiations and the cost of inaction is erosion of academic progress and quality of education.
“We therefore call upon all comrades from the University of Nairobi and across all universities nationwide to stand in solidarity and join the movement on Tuesday, 8 am at the UNSA office, Main Campus,” the memo states.
Wasike’s memo adds; “Let's stand united for our rights and for the integrity of our education. We must not allow the quality of learning to deteriorate under our watch.”
There has been a stalemate on talks aimed at ending the one-month strike, with both unions and the government remaining adamant on their conditions over the implementation of the 2017-2021 Comprehensive Bargaining Agreement (CBA).
Education Cabinet Secretary Migos Ogamba insists that the strike is illegal, having been suspended by the industrial court and that only Sh624 million is in contention, which the state is ready to discuss.
On the other hand, lectures through UASU demand that Sh7.9 billion emanating from the CBA must be offset before they resume classes.
Last Friday, CS Ogamba said talks between the lecturers’ unions, Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) and universities to end the impasse were ongoing.
He said that the teams have agreed to appoint a technical committee to align the issues in contention, but remained non-committal on when the strike is likely to be called off.
“As we speak, the talks are going on but we think we will be able to resolve this matter. I can’t give you the timelines but we have asked them to advise their members to return to class,” the CS said at Kenyoro Secondary School, Kisii County.
