The latest victims of perennial strikes in Kenya’s public service are university students.
This is after the lecturers downed their tools on March 1st demanding for the implementation of their 2017-2021 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).
The worst affected students are those in Moi University some of whom have taken too long in school already. This owes to a backlog of students occasioned by the double intake and lecturers’ strikes.
The current fourth years in the University have been in school since October 2013. With the Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) loans being terminated after surpassing the study period covered, most students have to fend for themselves in the following ways:
Small businesses
Most students engage in small businesses for their upkeep. This includes: selling credit and snacks in hostels, hawking clothes, M-Pesa business, and selling vegetables to their fellow students. The tech-savvy have built an empire activating free internet for mobile devices at a pay and selling “mwitu” data bundles. Next time you come across a hawker watch out it might be one of the elites struggling for survival.
Online jobs
With free WI-FI and no lectures, most students are finding their way online. Engaging in various online jobs platform has become a side hustle for many. Common jobs done include writing and data entry.
Renting out stuff
The things rented out range from hostel rooms to gadgets such as laptops and game consoles. Others include sportswear such as skaters and cycles which are rented out at a modest fifty shillings per hour. Musical instruments such as guitars and keyboards are also rented out.
Gambling
Sports betting is not a new phenomenon to most university students. Betting is slowly being embraced as a source of income albeit it being unreliable. No wonder most social sites with university students are full of betting tips and odds.
Sponsor things
Those students endowed with good looks by nature are duly exploiting it. Here is a perfect case of using what you have to get what you want. A visit to entertainment joints in Eldoret town will reveal the glaring reality of campus students and elderly men sampling life delicacies.