STUDENTS ACCUSE NAIROBI AVIATION OF DUPING THEM WITH GLOSSY WEBSITE

Trouble is looming at Nakuru campus of the Nairobi Aviation College following plans by students to hold demonstrations over alleged poor services.

For two months now, the students have been trying to express their grievances on the streets against the college management but the intended strike has always been contained where sometimes anti-riot police are used.

Mid July this year, tension gripped the college forcing the college authorities to employ full-time anti-riot police for a whole week to keep an eye on students who threatened to go on the rampage.

The more than 600 students protested that the college gave them a raw deal and they did not get value for their money.

They accuse the college top administration of dragging its feet to construct a library, a studio and a workshop, all which the school website and advertisements indicated the college had before they enrolled.

“It is a painful reality especially for students who took technical courses that need rigorous practical lessons as we require the facilities that appeared in the college website page when we were applying for the courses,” one of the enraged students lamented.

Claiming that the aviation and engineering trainees at the institution have been paying Sh500 per month since the beginning of the year for library which is poorly equipped, they accused the institution’s lecturers of harassment citing an incident in which they claim one of their colleagues was raped.

According to the students, in July, students attended a funeral of a staff member in Kitale and after the funeral, a student was allegedly raped by a lecturer who later used the administration to cover up the matter.

The administration later discreetly transferred the culprit leaving outraged students behind baying for his blood and justice. The tension allegedly led to the transfer of the Nakuru campus principal David Kemboi in a deal for cover.

A new head posted thereafter only spent one week at the institution before she fled after noticing the brewing tension.

Another incident to the current tension was when a student died in late July under unclear circumstances.

It is claimed that she had gone on a drinking spree with one of the teachers who is suspected to have intoxicated the lady before she passed on.

The incident also led to the late student’s gun-totting dad to storm the college offices spewing outrage that sent the whole institution into panic.

The father had demanded an explanation of his daughter’s death and demanded that the lecturer she was drinking with be produced forthwith although nothing was done to that effect.

 During the burial of the deceased girl at their Longisa home in Bomet county, tension remained high as residents wanted to know what the exact cause of death was.

It is believed the family had to keep silent on the presence of some of the students from the Nairobi Aviation College as the crowd had vowed none of them should set foot there.

Despite the fact that an email-notice letter from the students to their chief principal in Nairobi over their grievances has not been replied, the students are still contemplating their plans for the demonstration.

The management is said to be in disarray as tension has affected normal learning where even lecturers are said to be threatening to move out of the college.

Efforts to contact the head principal for comment was futility as his mobile phone went unanswered by the time we tried to reach him. However, a former Nakuru campus principal when contacted said all complaints of the students have been addressed and all facilities in question are on the course of completion, adding that as a result, there was no need of reporting on the issue.