PUTRAJAYA, Feb 21 — 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 MOE director-general Azman Adnan.
He said awareness is important after a child died from choking on gummy candy.
“MOE sees this (incident) as a priority so 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 today.
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 presence of hawkers outside school premises will be closely monitored by the State Education Department and school management to contact the local authorities if there was a hawker within a 40m radius of the school fence.
It was reported today that a 10-year-old boy who was in critical condition after choking on gummy candy died last night.
On Tuesday, the media reported that a student of SK Sungai Dua, Butterworth, was believed to have bought two candies before a Al-Quran and Fardu Ain class.
Meanwhile, police confirmed there was no foul play in the death of the 10-year-old, who was identified as Mohammad Fahmi Hafiz Mohammad Fakhruddin.
Seberang Perai Utara Police chief Anuar Abdul Rahman said it was based on the initial report from the post-mortem.
The boy died last night while receiving treatment at the Penang Hospital Paediatric Intensive Care Unit.
“The initial report confirms that there was no foul play in the death of the 10-year-old boy, but I’m still awaiting the full report to ascertain the actual cause of death.
“For now, the case is classified as sudden death,” he said when contacted.
— Bernama
