Students Cooking in Halls of Residence- University of Nairobi

STUDENTS’ COOKING IN THE HALLS OF RESIDENCE- University of Nairobi
Executive Summary

The challenge of students’ cooking remains to be surmounted by the University and several attempts has been made to stop it. This task force was constituted to develop proposals that could address the challenge.

The report is divided into eight sections; they cover
Introduction, membership, terms of reference, Methodology, findings, related matters, recommendations and action plan

Amongst the interesting findings is that the about 89% justified cooking in the rooms and also it was noted that only about 21% take meals in our kitchens
This is perhaps due to the fact that about 76% says that it is cheaper to cook and only 24% says it is not cheap to cook.

A good number of students say that the kitchens are clean and the staff members are corporative.
It was also noted that if all students were to eat in the kitchens then the department do not have the capacity due to lack of staff and equipments.

37% feels that the food is either poor and 63% feels the food is either good or fair.

It was found that the students are not comfortable with the kitchen operating hours hence need to look at it for improvement.
Inspite of the many fires in the halls of residence the students do not see cooking as a risk of fires with 52% saying it is not a risk

The committee noted that the designed power supply demand is being exceeded in most of the halls occasioning surcharge from KPLC due to the extra load. It also increases fire risks and frequent electrical repairs.

It was noted also that when the students are in session the power bills for Prefabs with a population of 720 first years is lower than the one for hall 9 with about 438 senior students. It came out also that power consumption is lower at the beginning of the semester than in the middle and towards the end of the semester and also during the exams due to the fact that it is assumed the student have money and can eat in the kitchens and also they have no time to cook. During the same period the kitchen sales are also high.

In light of the above findings the committee recommends that the University needs to increase the capacity of the kitchens to serve at least all residence students and once this is done the university enforces the no cooking policy.

We need to enforce the regulations governing students’ residency
Revise the rates for the rooms to cater for the extra expenses on power
Remodel the kitchens with a view to increasing the capacity to the extent that it can feed the entire students’ population if there is need that all students feed in the kitchen.
Need to improve quality of food.
Explore the cases of duty houses for more staff and also sale of food for dinner should start from 5:30 pm to 8:30 pm and ensure that food is available up to the time of closing.

In summary, the fact that in the past the University has not suffered a major catastrophe due to cooking is no consolation. The time is now to take decisive action that will not only save the University a lot of money but also avert a possible fire disaster.




If you are interested in the full text including the data analysis and recommendations send email to: cbsrkenya@gmail.com