'Our dreams are shattered': JKUAT students struggle amid lecturers' strike

The nationwide lecturers’ strike has left thousands of university students in limbo, their academic dreams hanging by a thread.

At Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT), first-year students who had just begun their studies now feel lost, their excitement of joining campus quickly turning into frustration and despair.

To them, the situation is even more heartbreaking. Graduation plans, career dreams, and years of hard work now risk being derailed. As lecture halls remain empty, uncertainty looms large over a generation yearning for knowledge and progress.

Among those affected is Maxwell Otieno, who has just joined to study Information Science. He says he and his colleagues had only been at the university for a month and were still adjusting to campus life when the strike hit.

“We had just been oriented to the university when we heard that lecturers had downed their tools. It feels like our dreams have been shattered. I hoped to graduate in 2028, but now that looks like a pipe dream,” Otieno lamented, urging President Ruto to resolve the matter amicably to avoid students wasting precious time.

For Benjamin Wesonga, a second-year Project Management student, the situation has been equally frustrating.

“We were informed that classes had resumed, only to be told by lecturers that there would be no studies. They instructed us to get out of the lecture rooms and go home. That was a big mistake. The government must find a lasting solution,” Wesonga said.

The strike has also cast a dark shadow on the future of final-year students like Immanuel Ochieng, who is pursuing Public Health. He says they have now been left to study on their own after lecturers vacated lecture halls to press their demands.

“As a fourth-year student hoping to graduate soon, I feel for the first-years who had just joined only for the strike to halt their first lessons. The government must step in quickly before more damage is done,” he urged.

The students have called for speedy negotiations between the government and lecturers’ unions to avert further disruption of their studies, warning that prolonged inaction will only deepen the crisis.

Operations at JKUAT have been grounded following a strike by workers. All the university’s departments remained closed on the third day of the industrial action as close to 3,000 employees joined their colleagues countrywide in demanding payment of salary arrears.

Workers’ representatives from three unions — the University Academic Staff Union (UASU), the Kenya University Staff Union (KUSU), and the Kenya Union of Domestic, Hotels, Educational Institutions, and Allied Workers (KUDEIHA) — asked students to go back home and wait for a solution to the standoff, insisting that the government must honour legally binding agreements signed by the parties.

UASU's JKUAT Chapter chair Dr Muiga Rugara, called on members to remain steadfast and not bow to intimidation.

Dr Rugara emphasised that both teaching and non-teaching staff must continue pressing for the full implementation of the 2017–2021 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), which the government has delayed.

KUSU Secretary General JKUAT Chapter Nickson Chege, noted that the strike, which has paralyzed learning in public universities across the country, will only end once their demands are met. The union leaders urged solidarity among members and warned against attempts to divide or weaken the movement.