The Ministry of Education and Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC) are on the spot after several KCSE candidates and teachers were reported ill over alleged exposure to a harmful chemical used in the practical for Chemistry Paper 3 last Friday.
Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) said it confirmed that the examiners and students were taken ill after they inhaled Xylene, one of the chemicals used in the practical exam.
The candidates were instructed to heat the chemical and observe the flame produced yet they were not provided with protective gear, according to Daily Nation.
Speaking during a press briefing on Monday, KUPPET Secretary-General Akello Misori said the cases were reported in Trans Nzoia, Nakuru, Kiambu, and Tharaka Nithi Counties.
He said an expectant teacher supervising KCSE exams at Tidae Girls High School in Kwanza, Trans Nzoia County is admitted at a hospital in Kitale after developing complications following the exposure.
Another teacher at St. Monica Girls Kitale is admitted at Galilee Medical Centre, the teachers union said.
KUPPET also said scores of students in different regions are reported to have been hospitalized over the weekend and later discharged.
The union said other toxic chemicals were used in the practical including Sulphuric Acid, Potassium, Bromine Gas and Ammonia but their main concern was Xylene, which was used as an organic solvent.
Xylene causes skin and eye irritation, may lead to death if swallowed and may damage organs such as liver, kidney and heart to an unborn child.
Education Cabinet Secretary Prof. George Magoha dismissed claims that students and teachers were harmed by the chemical.
“Most of the substances we use in Chemistry are dangerous. The substance of Xylene that they are talking about is not as dangerous as chemicals such as chlorine… and these substances have been used since I was in high school,” said Magoha.
“Those people trying to make noise and misinform the public may have expected a particular substance.”
Education PS Belio Kipsang said: “We have not heard any formal complaint. Chemistry teachers will tell you these are the same chemicals they have been using in their normal teaching processes.”
KNEC is reported to have directed headteachers to buy and use Xylene as an alternative for the cyclohexane, which was unavailable in the market.
