Varsities should pay part-time lecturers

Higher education in Kenya is saturated by part-time lecturers who are twice the number of those employed on permanent basis.

All satellite campuses in urban centres exploit unemployed Master’s degree holders by engaging them to teach a number of units without pay. Most of the part-time lecturers cling to their jobs in the hope that they will be hired as permanent staff.

Some notorious institutions have not paid their part-time staff for as long as four years.

It’s no doubt that some students go through the four-year course only to realise they have up to 15 units that have no marks. This is caused by non-payment of part time lecturers who resort to withholding students’ marks as a protest.

The Commission of University Education should step in and stamp its authority over the issue, least we have dysfunctional faculties filled with professors but with no actual staff at the helm. This is a worrying trend since many universities no longer have staff development. They bank on the part-time lecturers who are less motivated and end up not delivering.