Students at public universities in Kenya are expected back in lecture halls on Monday, November 2, after a 28-day lecturers' strike was called off, according to The Star, Kenya. The industrial action ended on Friday, October 30, two days after the unions and the government reached a Sh20 billion agreement.
More than 30,000 staff belonging to the Universities Academic Staff Union (Uasu), the Kenya Universities Staff Union (Kusu) and the Kenya Union of Domestic, Hotels, Educational Institutions, Hospitals and Allied Workers (Kudheiha) had stopped work on October 2. They were pressing for negotiations on the 2025–2029 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) to be concluded, signed and implemented.
Union officials said teaching would restart on Monday without fail and asked their members to return to their duties promptly, The Star, Kenya reports.
Why it matters
The strike shut down instruction across the country's public universities and left students uncertain about their academic year. Some students held demonstrations twice during the standoff, calling on the government to step in and settle the dispute, according to The Star, Kenya.
The disruption also lands at an awkward point in the calendar. With the year closing, university administrations must now find a way to make up lost teaching time without throwing research, examination or graduation schedules further off course.
How the Sh20 billion deal was reached
The breakthrough came after an interministerial team stepped in, made up of the Ministry of Education, the National Treasury and the Ministry of Interior, and led by Head of Public Service Felix Koskei. It followed a run of conciliation meetings between the unions and the Inter-Public Universities Council Consultative Forum (IPUCCF) that failed to produce a settlement. The forum's last offer of Sh11.96 billion was turned down by the unions.
Under the agreement, the government will release the Sh20 billion in three instalments. The first Sh6.7 billion is set for the 2026/2027 financial year, with the same amount earmarked for 2027/2028.
The deal provides for a 3.5 per cent annual salary increase over four years, backdated to July 1, 2025, alongside an automatic yearly pay rise of five per cent. Academic staff also gain improved and harmonised leave, commuter, passage and baggage allowances, which will cover most of them.
On arrears, the parties agreed that outstanding salary and allowance payments built up between July 1, 2025 and June 30, 2026 will be cleared in three equal instalments. Amounts accruing from July 1 to December 31, 2026 will be paid together with January 2027 salaries.
The settlement also covers staff who took part in the strike. All disciplinary action against academic staff over their participation will be withdrawn, and non-permanent staff were told their contracts would not be refused renewal because of their involvement in the industrial action.
Questions remain over the wider crisis
The pay deal has drawn scrutiny beyond the classroom. Daily Nation reported that the Sh20 billion agreement does not resolve the deeper problems facing public universities, while The Standard reported that the settlement leaves lecturers with a 3.5 per cent salary increase.
Separately, People Daily reported that JKUAT has set a new deadline for unit registration as students return to learning.
For now, the immediate priority is getting courses back on track. Students are due in class from Monday, and the unions have told their members to resume teaching straight away.
What to watch: whether universities can recover the lost weeks without disrupting end-of-year examinations and graduations, and whether the phased funding in the agreement is released on schedule.
