University of Nairobi (UoN) students on Wednesday issued a fresh 14-day notice informing the institution, the government, the public and relevant stakeholders of their intention to stage a nationwide strike where they intend to sustain their push to have the new higher education funding model scrapped altogether.
In their fresh notice, the students want the new funding model immediately suspended and traditional model restored. The students have termed the new funding model as discriminatory and blind to the dynamics of Kenyan learners who come from different backgrounds and with different interests.
“As a union of the University of Nairobi (UoN), we want to issue a 14-day strike notice upon agreeing on the date,” one of the student leaders at the institution stated on Wednesday while calling on students from other institutions to join in as they all seek to make their voices heard.
The students further intimated that they plan on escalating the matter to court, after feeling that the government is not keen on addressing the concerns they have raised.
University of Nairobi Main Campus.
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UON
“We shall also submit a petition to the court and to the parliament to challenge the implementation of the new university funding model,” the vowed.
While making their case, the students further took issue with the committee formed by the government to look into the higher education funding model insisting that the Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) has adequate capacity to facilitate the disbursement of funds to learners.
“From where we are, we are seeing these committees as a delaying tactic. We don’t want reforms all that we want is the new model disbanded,” the students demanded.
The students also called on parliament to summon officers tasked with the implementation of the new funding model which they termed as punitive and discriminative.
Students lamented the new funding model has locked out many students from accessing university education because of being placed in bands that don’t suit their situation.
“Our concern to the committee that is reviewing the university funding model is, how are students supposed to start their learning, join school, because after two months we are going to start our exams,” they reasoned.
This comes barely a month after the university student leaders called off a strike on September 8 which was to take effect on Tuesday, September 10, after holding a consultative meeting with officials from the Ministry of Education.
A number of universities including Moi University and Machakos University proceeded with the planned demonstrations on the said Tuesday, September 10 despite the call of the strike.
The University of Nairobi students during an exam session
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University of Nairobi
