A communal bathroom in the University of Nairobi's Jamuhuri Hostel 4
(right) where two students get to share a sub-divided room at the cost
of sh 7, 000 per academic year. October 16, 2014. PHOTO | DIANA NGILA
When Michael Oduor from Maseno School scored
an A plain in the Kenya Certificate of Secondary of Education (KCSE) in
2013, he was elated because he was sure it would set him on the path to
the life he had dreamt of. He would get direct admission to university
for the degree course of his choice, after which he would be ready for
the big world out there.
He did get
admitted to Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology
(JKUAT) to pursue a degree electrical and electronics engineering, yes,
but after a year now, he’s finding life at the university a struggle.
Since he missed accommodation on campus, Oduor lives in Juja in a poorly
maintained, rented room which threatens to fall apart when it is windy.
He pays Sh5,500 for the shared room, which has barely enough space for a
reading table. In fact, he cannot move around without getting into his
room-mate’s way. The ramshackle washrooms are made of wooden offcuts,
and the pit latrines are almost full. He never takes breakfast but saves
the little money he has for a meal at the university canteen. To get to
class, he walks a dusty, two-kilometre stretch every day, leaving him
tired and unable to concentrate fully by the time he gets to class.
Oduor cannot wait to finish his studies and move out.
Sadly,
his situation is replicated at universities across the country. And
with the unemployment situation getting worse, some students are asking
themselves whether the rough life they are living is worth their while.
With
increased admissions and huge enrolment of self-sponsored students,
universities undoubtedly bit off more than they could chew, and
especially after they did away with admission based on on-campus
accommodation. As a result, the facilities at most universities are
overstretched, forcing the students to make do with what is available.
A room in the University of Nairobi's Jamuhuri
Hostel 4 where two students get to share a sub-divided room at the cost
of Sh7, 000 per academic year. October 16, 2014. PHOTO | DIANA NGILA
The
limited resources at the institutions — lecture halls, hostels, reading
rooms and even co-curricular facilities — make it difficult for the
students to get a quality education. Indeed, with the current
enrolment, the lecturer student ratio is a worrying 1:400. In some
course units, you have one lecture teaching more than 1,000 students,
so he or she has to use a microphone. This raises the question, can
quality be guaranteed in such circumstances? Perhaps, that is why
universities are churning out “half-baked” graduates.
ACCOMODATION
The
accommodation situation is dire. There are a combined 280,000 bed
spaces in universities and colleges in the country, compared with a
student population of 769,000, according to the latest statistics. And
most of the admissions are self-sponsored students, who provide the
much-needed resources for the development and sustenance of the
institutions’ operations.
The
Technical University of Kenya (formerly The Kenya Polytechnic), for
instance, has just two hostels: one for men in Nairobi’s South B, and
one for women at Community Hill with a combined 1,000 rooms, while the
student population is more than 18,600. Those who are lucky enough to
get the rooms pay Sh7,200 per semester.
Across
town at Kenyatta University, the more than 22,000 students not living
on campus seek accommodation in the crowded Kahawa Sukari, Roysambu and
Kahawa Wendani estates. But Kilometre 101, or simply KM, an informal,
crime-infested neighbourhood located outside the university’s main
campus, remains the preferred area of choice for the students.
Meanwhile,
Maasai Mara University has more than 3,200 students living in various
places around Narok town, which makes access to university facilities
difficult.
And Kisii University is
facing a major crisis after it increased intake,which saw more than
5,300 students seeking accommodation in the already congested town.
Egerton
University cannot house even a third of its students, while JKUAT has
more than 7,000 students living in dilapidated dwellings in Juja town,
Gashororo and Weitethie. Similarly, Maseno University’s 4,800 students
who are not housed on campus have to find alternative accommodation.
The
University of Nairobi has 13,000 students living off campus. To improve
the situation, it is planning to build a Sh3 billion hostel on Harry
Thuku Road to house between 2,000 and 3,000 students, who will pay
between Sh50 and100 per day. Similarly, Kenyatta University is to build a
Sh1 billion housing complex at its main campus, which will house about
10,000 students.
A communal bathroom in the University of
Nairobi's Jamuhuri Hostel 4 where two students get to share a
sub-divided room at the cost of sh7, 000 per academic year on October
16, 2014 PHOTO | DIANA NGILA
LACK OF FACILITIES
The
proliferation of private universities and colleges in Nairobi’s city
centre without recreational space or accommodation has led to a
situation where students mostly while away the time on the streets as
they wait for their next class.
In
June, the Commission for University Education (CUE) said city-based
campuses that had not adhered to the prescribed standards and guidelines
would be closed. Commission Chairman Henry Thairu said the Universities
Standards and Guidelines 2014 must be adhered to, adding that the next
purge would target universities in western Kenya. “We have carried it
out in Nairobi and its environs and now we head to the Western circuit.
What we are asking for is compliance with the standards we have set,
which are globally accepted,” Mr Thairu said.
The
CUE announced that eight satellite campuses would be closed in a major
crackdown to restore order in higher education in Nairobi. The purge
targeted St Paul’s University campus at Church House on Moi Avenue,
Egerton University’s City Campus, Africa Nazarene University at Agrho
House and the South Eastern Kenya University. Others were Dedan Kimathi
University of Technology, as well as Multi-Media University of Kenya’s
and Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology’s city campuses.
Following
the 88,000 admissions by the Kenya Universities and Colleges Central
Placement Service this year, up from last year’s 58,000, most campuses
are facing major constraints with regard to teaching space, which they
are unlikely to resolve soon.
The
level of squalor at many campuses would shock former graduates (now
parents), who passed through the institutions of higher learning two
decades ago, when the universities accommodated all students on campus,
fed them and even gave them allowances.
The
increased student population, which is also attributable to the
directive that universities implement double intakes back in 2011, has
created a conducive market for investment in housing, but questions have
arisen regarding the quality.
But
while it might look like only the students are affected, the lecturers
are not having it easy either. Almost half of the unhoused lecturers
commute almost 100 kilometres daily to work. Mr Willis Rono, a lecturer
who spends almost four hours commuting, sometimes ends up late for
class. “It is tough,” he says.
PROBLEMS ALL AROUND
During
the launch of the 2015 examinations by the Kenya National Examinations
Council (KNEC), the council’s CEO, Dr Joseph Mbithi Kivilu, said there
were 525,802 KCSE candidates. At least 200,000 of them will add
pressure to the crisis when they join university.
Geoffrey Limo (left) and his brother Vincent
Kemei, students at Moi University, Eldoret doing their assignments at
their hostel room on November 13, 2009. They are among hundreds of
students who were forced to seek accommodation outside their university
compound due accommodation crisis at public universities in the country.
PHOTO | FILE
Mr
Kennedy Mwangi, an accountant with children at the university, says
many campuses still lack effective services such as off-campus housing,
shuttle services, security and water supply to match the demand. “This
is why many students are living in people’s living rooms, servants’
quarters and verandas. Some of these places lack security, adequate
water supply and electricity,” he observes.
Town
planner Philip Keita foresees a town planning crisis: “With numerous
corrugated iron sheet structures with shared bathrooms and toilets
springing up in university neighbourhoods, the places will end up as
slums, prompted by the demand for accommodation.”
Meanwhile,
psychologist Dr Moses Kerosi of Mount Kenya University predicts a rise
in crime: “With limited resources and the need for money for upkeep,
drug peddling, prostitution or even running makeshift kiosks where they
(students) sell cheap liquor will become more rampant.”
But
to Mrs Grace Njeri, who manages a hostel in the city, the crisis is a
godsend, because the students are prepared to pay higher rents than
regular tenants. “We provide furniture such as beds, mattresses,
curtains, reading lamps, in addition to meals served on a pay-as-you-eat
basis.”
Kisumu real estate investor
Eric Ounga points out that, although investment in student accommodation
is still low, it has a lot of potential. “It is the new thing in town
since we have very many universities coming up in western Kenya,” he
says.
While the Kenya government has
been lauded for its efforts in expanding access to higher education, it
has also been criticised for not spending enough on expanding facilities
to match the demands of increased learners.
Still,
World Bank data show that state funding of public universities has
nearly tripled in the past four years, rising from $247 (Sh26 bn)
million in 2010 to $624 (66 bn) million last year. During this period,
enrolment has grown four-fold.
But
CUE Secretary Prof David Some says it is still inadequate. “Funding
higher education has emerged as one of the biggest concerns in Kenya,
with the surge in student numbers. Government subsidies are no longer
enough and universities are going into commercial activities.”
The
Universities’ Academic Staff Union (UASU) National Treasurer, Ms Edwina
Kawaka, regrets that the continued expansion of universities, while
well intentioned, has diluted the quality of education.
The
government’s inability to match funding with enrolment is one of the
reasons it is pushing for a review of public university fees, which have
remained unchanged since 1995. During an interview with the media last
year, education Cabinet Secretary Prof Jacob Kaimenyi said the current
charges were “too low” to sustain quality learning. But the suggestion
to increase the fees was strongly opposed by students, who organised a
strike to counter it.
Cash-strapped
thanks to the declining per-student public funding and the fees freeze,
public universities introduced “parallel” courses, for which they
charge full fees. This resulted in great disparities between the fees
paid by state- and self-sponsored students.
With
the surge in student numbers, higher education faces numerous
challenges, which hamper its ability to produce top-notch graduates.
Issues such as inadequate capacity, a mismatch between the skills
acquired and the demands of the job market, gender imbalances, rigid
admission criteria and limited opportunities for credit transfer have
crippled the sector, economist Irene Ruto, an education consultant,
notes. “We risk growing too fast while not dealing with basic problems
of the quality of graduates coming out of universities,” she says. “We
still have complaints from employers that most of the graduates are
half-baked. We need to address these challenges as a country.”
Kenya has largest varsity system in EA
KENYA
HAS THE largest university education system in East Africa. The number
of universities in the country rose from six public ones in 2003 to 24
in 2014. In total, the country has 54 institutions, nine of which are
constituent colleges of public universities and five of private
universities. As a result, the number of university students rose from
67,558 in 2003/2004 to about 769,550 in 2015.
According
to the last year’s Economic Survey, there was a 28.3 per cent increase
in overall university student enrollment from 198,260 in 2011 to 340,550
in 2014. This was higher than the 14.6 per cent, recorded in 2011/2012
because of the double intake implemented in the 2013/2014 academic
year.
Female student enrollment rose
by 30.5 per cent from 80,560 in 2011/2012 to 186,115 in 2012/2013.
During the same period, enrollment in private universities rose by 11.6
per cent from 40,344 in 2011/2012 to 95,023 in the 2013/1204 academic
year.
But women’s enrollment declined
from 40.1 per cent in 2008/2009 to 37.9 per cent in 2009/2010. To boost
the numbers, the joint board has an affirmative action policy,
admitting female students with a point less than their male
counterparts.
769,550
The
combined number of students at universities this year. This is a marked
increase from the 2003/2004 enrollment of 67,558. The sharp increase is
partly attributable to the double-intake effected in 2011, and partly
to an increase in the proliferation of institutions of higher learning.
No comments:
Post a Comment