A final-year medical student at Moi University in Eldoret has revealed he has spent close to ten years pursuing his degree, a timeline stretched thin by the COVID-19 pandemic and a succession of lecturer strikes that have repeatedly brought his studies to a standstill.
The student spoke to Citizen TV while at Moi University’s School of Health Sciences in Uasin Gishu County, where lecture halls sat empty for a fourth consecutive day as lecturers continued their strike over the implementation of the 2025–2029 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).
Final-Year Students Left Studying Alone
Ruth Mwangi and David Juma, both final-year students pursuing Medicine and Surgery, were seen revising in a deserted lecture hall.
The two described a journey marked first by the disruption of COVID-19, which threw their academic calendar off course, and now by yet another lecturer walkout that threatens to push back their graduation date and, with it, their entry into the job market.
“It’s been almost ten years since I left,” one of the students said. “We are still in school. I honestly don’t know.”
The frustration in his voice captured what many students across public universities are feeling as the standoff deepens.
The current strike follows another that ended just three months prior, leaving little time for academic recovery before the next disruption began.
Boda Boda Riding to Make Ends Meet
The situation is no easier for students at other institutions caught in the same storm. Andrew Okwuiye, a third-year student at Machakos University pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Education, told the reporter that the pattern of strikes dating back to 2020 had repeatedly stalled his progress.
“It started in 2020, and because of the accumulated strikes, our education keeps being postponed every time lecturers go on strike,” he said.
To keep himself afloat during the shutdowns, Okwuiye has been riding a motorcycle as a boda boda operator, turning to informal work as each strike eats further into his academic year.
Staff at Kirinyaga University and Dedan Kimathi University in Nyeri had formally joined the national strike action, widening its reach across the country’s public university system.
Final-year students are now calling on the government to resolve the dispute urgently so they can complete their studies and graduate within a reasonable timeframe.
