PUTRAJAYA: The Education Ministry (MOE) has taken appropriate steps to raise awareness among students and parents to buy the right food at the right place, said director-general of Education Azman Adnan.
He said the awareness is important following the incident of a child who died after choking on gummy candy to prevent it from happening again.
"MOE sees this (incident) as a priority so that such things do not happen again," he told the media after delivering his message in conjunction with the opening of the 2025/2026 school session, here Friday (Feb 21).
He stressed that school canteens under the supervision of MOE do not sell food such as gummy candies, and in fact, the candies cannot be sold as gazetted by the Health Ministry (MOH).
Azman said the issue of hawkers outside school premises would be closely monitored by the State Education Department (JPN) and school management to contact the local authorities (PBT) if there was a hawker within a 40-metre radius of the school fence.
It was reported today that the 10-year-old boy who was in critical condition after allegedly choking on gummy candy died last night.
On Feb 19, the media reported that a student of SK Sungai Dua, Butterworth was believed to have bought two candies before the Al-Quran and Fardu Ain (Kafa) Class.
In another development, Azman said that MOE had so far not received information from MOH regarding the need for prevention following the leprosy outbreak in Negri Sembilan.
However, he said that issues related to infectious disease outbreaks are taken seriously and that they are always ready to work with MOH in terms of prevention if necessary. - Bernama
