Universities and other institutions of higher learning are staring at a crisis ahead of the mass admissions in the next academic year.
Speaking on Friday, October 7, university lecturers lamented the government failed to factor in some of their demands before implementing the 100 per cent transition from primary to secondary school.
Dons noted that institutions of higher learning are understaffed, with most of them depending on part-time lecturers to run their academic activities.
"The government came up with a 100 per cent policy from primary to secondary, and the students are about to transition to university, yet the institutions are relying on part-time lecturers," the lecturers stated.
Universities Academic Staff Union (UASU) secretary general, Constantine Wasonga, added that public universities are perennially underfunded.
According to Wesonga, the readiness of most universities to host new students is also facing headwinds due to resource scarcity.
To help support mass transition and enforce the 100 per cent transition rate, UASU called on President William Ruto-led government to allocate more funds for recruiting lecturers.
They argued that mass recruitment should run in tandem with recruiting over 58,000 teachers in public primary and secondary schools this financial year.
The academic calendar is expected to normalise starting January 2023 following the disruption that was caused by the pandemic in 2020.
Nonetheless, the resumption of the normal school calendar will be informed by the policy reviews that will be proposed by the Working Party Education Reforms constituted by Ruto to review the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC).
Among the issues Ruto wants to be addressed include teachers' deployment and funding of institutions.
They also want the government to address collective bargaining agreements to harmonious their salaries and other benefits.
