University lecturers have been accused of failure to release
students exam results to protest against poor working conditions and
salary delays.
The Nation has established
that the most notorious are part-time lecturers who withhold exam
results until the university pays their salaries — jeopardising the
chances of the students to complete schooling.
Some lecturers who spoke to the Nation
said while cases of missing marks were not always deliberate, part-time
lecturers in some universities often wait indefinitely to be paid, even
after being asked to teach without pay for a whole semester.
“How
do you meet your financial obligations if you are working and you can’t
be paid at the end of the month? Such a distressed person has to hold
on to what is valuable to the university, for somebody to think twice,”
Mr Jonathan Oketch, a part-time lecturer at a public university, said.
He
admitted that students have had to suffer after the university
management turns the heat on them, saying it’s their responsibility to
ensure their marks are intact, before being cleared to graduate.
Mr
Edwin Muriuki is a case in point. He completed second year in March at
Kenyatta University, but his financial sponsor discontinued fees owing
to delayed exam results.
He was yet to receive his first year results although he had completed the first semester of the second year.
It
took the intervention of the (government’s) public complaints office —
the Ombudsman — for his results to be released and the sponsor to
continue paying fees.
Such is the predicament of
thousands of public university students whose completion of studies is
not guaranteed as cases of missing marks and undue delays in releasing
exam results is reportedly on the rise.
University of
Nairobi vice-chancellor George Magoha said he has dismissed “several
careless staff” who either lose or hold onto marks.
He, however, noted that the problem was not exclusively caused by the lecturers.
“Invigilators
need to ensure that those entering exam rooms are properly registered
and that they have actually done the exam at the end of it all,” Prof
Magoha said.
“The university senate has since set regulations for the lecturers to hand in their marks as and when they are due,” he added.
UNDUE DELAY
However,
Education Cabinet Secretary Jacob Kaimenyi expressed concern over
increasing cases of missing exam marks and undue delay in the release of
results in public universities.
The minister said it
was unfortunate some lecturers didn’t take their work seriously, a
situation that has led to students missing graduation.
Some
students grapple with missing marks long after they sit exams and
lecturers instead of fixing the problem, keep taking them round in
circles.
“Lecturers should be role models. Some of us
are letting this profession down by engaging in unethical practices.
Some students realise they are missing marks for an exam meant to have
been done in first year,” Prof Kaimenyi said.
“Be
sensitive to these young people and their parents who have spent a lot
to educate them. Ensure exams are marked and results released on time,”
he told lecturers.
He also warned lecturers against
teaching in different universities saying this was to blame for poor
quality teaching that risked compromising education standards.
The
Cabinet Secretary said some lecturers were so preoccupied with
moonlighting that they had no time to undertake research and prepare
teaching materials.
He added that lecturers needed time
to engage students in a quality manner, but could not do so because
they spend most of their time moving from one university to another
arguing that they are “poorly” paid.
'WRONG REGISTRATION'
But
regarding KU, deputy vice-chancellor John Okumu said the problem was
not that the marks were held by a lecturer but “wrong registration on
the part of the student”.
“We have now issued
guidelines to both students and lecturers regarding exams and the
timetable,” Prof Okumu said, adding that students can now expect to
receive their results in five weeks after sitting for exams.
The office of the Ombudsman had asked KU to impose strict time-lines for marking and posting results.
“Some
have either had their results delayed, or miss exams altogether,
prompting them to re-sit. This has implications, in terms of finances
and the time it takes to complete a course,” Mr Otiende Amollo, the
chairman of the Commission on Administrative Justice (Ombudsman), said.
Prof
Kaimenyi also said that some lecturers were deliberately missing
classes on pretext that the university students are supposed to study on
their own, yet their guidance was important in enabling students to
acquire market-oriented skills.
“It is high time
lecturers asked themselves how practical their skills are. Whose
knowledge are you teaching? Is it based on your research or you are a
mere copycat of research carried out elsewhere?” Prof Kaimenyi asked.
He said lecturers had a duty to be committed and graduate students who can create jobs.
Employers
have complained that they are forced to retrain newly employed staff
because they join the job market with little understanding of the market
expectations.
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