The Education Principal Secretary (PS), Prof. Japheth Ntiba has pleaded with the striking university lecturers to relax their hardline stance on the Collective Bargain Agreement (CBA) and resume classes.
The PS promised the lecturers that the government, through the Ministry of Education will deal with their issue once and for all.
Prof. Ntiba, who was speaking during the fifth graduation ceremony at the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University of Science and Technology (JOOUST), also encouraged the Kenyan universities to establish faculty members to be able to offer quality training.
He revealed that with the quick growth of the university sector in this country, a lot of universities still don’t have faculty members and this has subjected the sector to a great challenge.
The PS has therefore reiterated on the need for capacity building of staff, and subsequent establishment of the faculty members to prevent cases where students would teach each other instead of being taught by lecturers.
Prof. Ntiba stated that through the Commission for University Education (CUE), they will remain relevant in ensuring quality and relevance in the provision of university education in the country, and therefore instructed the universities curve out their identities and niches through specific areas of specialization.
He stated that they don’t want all universities to look alike, noting that they would want a situation where somebody would admire a given university because of the specific expertise provided there.
The occasion was also graced by Rarieda MP, Otiende Amolo who pleaded with the government to allow the local universities to establish more campuses to bring university education closer to the people.
By Brian Ondeng’
