The Ministry of Education has promised to address the grievances raised by the University of Nairobi (UoN) students' association.
This follows a protest on Monday, July 21, during which students marched to the Ministry of Education offices at Jogoo House in Nairobi, demanding a review of accommodation charges.
Education Principal Secretary Beatrice Inyangala stated that the Ministry would convene a dialogue with student leaders to resolve the stalemate that now threatens learning in one of the country's prestigious institutions.
According to Inyangala, past engagements have demonstrated that when students participate in dialogue with the government, the discussions are always fruitful.
"We want to encourage the students to come to the table. Our experience has been that when we bring the student leaders to the table, we always resolve these issues very amicably," she said.
Meanwhile, the students, in their petition to the ministry, called for an immediate reduction in the university's accommodation fee; failure to which they would stage demonstrations.
The students faulted the institution for reportedly increasing the accommodation fees from Ksh 6,000 in 2021 to the current Ksh 43,000, an amount they claim is exorbitant.
While protesting the outrageous accommodation fees, the student leaders called on the first-year students to delay reporting to the institution until their grievances are addressed.
"We have tried to solve this issue, but the university administration has failed to heed our demand. We have now submitted a petition to the Education PS and she promised that they are going to act on it," said the Chairperson of the UoN Council of Governors, Patrick Owino.
"Our expectation is very simple: by the time the first years are being admitted, the accommodation fee should have been reduced," he added.
He further revealed that, despite repeated calls for a reduction in the accommodation fee, the UoN administration had resorted to using delay tactics to frustrate them.
In their list of demands, the students are also calling on the university administration to establish a fully functional university council.
They now claim that a delay in addressing the aforementioned issues will result in a demonstration, with the learners threatening to paralyse transport and business activities within Nairobi's Central Business District (CBD).
