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Kyambogo lecturers withhold marks for over 3,000 students
A student and a boda boda motorcyclist pictured at Kyambogo University main gate. PHOTO/FILE
What you need to know:
- “The situation is worse at the engineering faculty where both the continuing and graduands do not have marks. They do not know if they passed or not,” Mr Wafula Koholo, the university guild president.
A section of Kyambogo University students have raised concern over the delay to release their results.
Speaking to Daily Monitor yesterday, the students said some lecturers were withholding their results in protest of the university’s delay to pay their outstanding arrears.
More than 3,000 students, mainly from the Faculty of Engineering, and the School of Built Environment are affected.
They are part of the more than 9,000 students expected to graduate during the university’s 8th graduation ceremony slated for December.
One of the affected students from the civil engineering department, who asked to remain anonymous due to fear of being penalised, said: “We sat for the exams in January but to date, our marks have not been uploaded on the system nor do we appear on any graduation list. When we approached our lecturers two months ago, they indicated that they had not been paid.”
The university guild president, Mr Wafula Koholo, said he has received several complaints from the affected students and that they have tried to have the matter resolved in vain, adding that the issue is beyond them.
He, however, said they contacted the dean of students and the university management, who have since promised to solve this issue before December.
“The situation is worse at the engineering faculty where both the continuing and graduands do not have marks. They do not know if they passed or not,” Mr Koholo said.
A source at the School of Engineering said the faculty, with more than 10,000 students, has only eight full staff who are paid by the government.
The rest are part-time lecturers who are supposed to be paid by the university management from the tuition paid by students.
When contacted for a comment on the matter yesterday, the Vice Chancellor, Prof Eli Katunguka, said he was in a meeting.
The university spokesperson, Ms Jennifer Sibbo, however, said they are aware of the issue and are doing their best to ensure the results are uploaded on the system.
She blamed the slow payment of the staff on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, which she said left the institution in debt.
“We wrote to the Ministry of Finance and this money has since been released. As we talk right now, some lecturers have been paid and others are yet to receive their salaries,” Ms Sibbo said.
This is not the first time the university part-time staff are withholding marks of students over their salary arrears.
The staff in 2021 did the same until the university cleared their arrears.
Addressing journalists last year, Mr Katunguka said the university depends on part-time staff because they are unable to recruit all staff on permanent basis due to budget shortfalls.
