At Makande Girls Secondary School in Mvita constituency, Mombasa County, eight students taking their Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exams fainted after they were affected by a harmful gas on Thursday morning.

As the 84 candidates prepared for their Kiswahili exam, eight students were incapacitated by an unidentified gas, believed to have originated from nearby industries.

Five students were treated at the hospital and discharged, though the source of the gas remains unknown.

Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Migos stated,

“Eight of the 84 candidates became faint. Three recovered with first aid. Five were taken to hospital, treated, and later discharged.”

The affected candidates were then relocated to Makupa Boys High School for their exams, while a multi-agency team was tasked with locating the source of the gas.

“The smell was everywhere; we even had to leave our homes to find fresh air, but it was worse outside,” Makande resident Rabia Obui said.

Another incident

In Kisumu, a center manager at Menara Academy in Muhoroni was arrested and detained at Chemelil police station after photographs of Wednesday’s Chemistry paper were found on his mobile phone.

Education officials discovered this during routine monitoring of the ongoing national exams. The suspect, Evans Ochieng Owili, is currently held at Chemelil police station.

CS Migos reiterated that the ban on mobile phones in exam rooms has been effective.

“In Nairobi, students were found with phones, but they were intercepted before entering the exam room, so there was no compromise. Officers transporting papers are assigned in the morning to avoid familiarity with the teams they work with,” he said.

He also called for the swift handling of exam malpractice cases, as eight teachers in Homa Bay, arrested for photocopying a Chemistry paper for a sick candidate, were brought to court and released on a bond of Ksh.2 million each.

“They will never teach in this country again,” the CS said regarding the case.

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