A number of KCSE candidates and teachers have been reported ill following an exposure to a chemical used in Chemistry Practicals on Friday.
The government has since dismissed the reports but The Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) insists that it has reports of examiners and students who got ill after being exposed to Xylene; one of the Chemicals used in Chemistry paper 3 (Chemistry Practicals).
The candidates were supposed to heat the chemical and observe the flame produced yet they were not provided with a protective gear.
KUPPET secretary General Akello Misori pointed out that teachers had been reported sick in Tharaka Nithi, Kiambu, Nakuru and Trans Nzoia counties due to being exposed to the chemical.
The teachers union also said that a pregnant teacher who was a supervisor at Tidae Girls High school in Trans Nzoia County was admitted in a medical facility within Kitale town after she developed some complications due to exposure to the chemical. Another teacher at St Monica girls in Kitale had to be admitted at Galilee Medical Centre.
Within the Eastern region, some students are reported to have been admitted before being released.
Xylene was used as an organic solvent in the Chemistry exam. It is said to cause eye and skin irritation, and may lead to death if swallowed and may damage various organs such as the kidney, the heart and the liver.
KUPPET also complained over the cost of xylene, which could have been substituted by a cheaper and less toxic chemical. The Union claim that Xylene was supplied at a cost of Ksh 10,000 per litre.
Education Principal Secretary Dr. Belio Kipsang and CS George Magoha however dismissed the reports.
Dr. Belio Kipsang said: “We have not heard any formal complaint. Chemistry teachers will tell you this are the same chemicals that they use in their normal teaching processes.”
”Most of the substances we use in Chemistry are dangerous. The substance of xylene 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. Those people trying to make noise may have expected a particular substance.” Said CS Magoha.
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