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34 TUK students sue varsity after being blocked from graduating

By MAUREEN KAKAH December 8th, 2016 2 min read

Thirty-four engineering students have gone to court seeking orders to compel Technical University of Kenya to ensure that they graduate in the next graduation ceremony which is just few days away.

The students, who have been blocked from graduatiing because they did not study a newly introduced unit, have sued the institution’s vice chancellor, its council, the director of the school for mechanical and process engineering and the academic registrar.

Through lawyer Ham Lagat, they are challenging a decision taken by the varsity’s senate on December 5 that directed that they would graduate in April 2017 instead of December 20, 2016.

“They have waited for a whole year to graduate without being informed that there was a unit they did not do and some were employed on condition that they avail their degree certificates upon graduation this year,” Mr Lagat said.

VICTIMIZED

In their court papers, Mr Lagat said the 34 should not be victimized for the alleged failures of the University and that those who graduated before them in 2014 and 2015 did not take the said unit.

The students argue that they have successfully completed all the requisite units for their course, met all academic and financial obligations as required by the Universities Act, as well completed their four months attachment.

They say that they received information on November 7 from the acting chairman of the mechanical engineering department that their class was not going to graduate this year.

The reason given was that they failed to do a unit called ‘Computer Aided Design and Manufacturing’ in their third year of study.

They said the information was informally communicated to them one year after having completed their studies at the institution and just one month to the scheduled graduation.

They also allege that the unit was introduced recently yet the institution is not apologetic for the mistake on its part.

They therefore want an order issued compelling the vice chancellor and the senate to include their names in the list being compiled for the oncoming graduation.