BUKIT MERTAJAM, Oct 5 — The Ministry of Education (MOE) will prioritise overall safety measures in organising school sports activities to ensure that incidents such as the death of a student during the 2025 National Full Residential School (SBP) Rugby Seven-a-Side Tournament last Friday do not recur.
Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek said that her ministry will also focus on ensuring that medical teams are prepared for every sporting event to be organised in schools from now on.
“Actually, students have already been reminded about health aspects, and we have requested parents to provide health information to the school,” she said.
“For the future, our focus will be on overall safety, depending on the type of sport, as well as ensuring the presence of medical teams for each match,” she told reporters after officiating at the Anti-Bullying Roadshow at Yayasan Aman, Penanti, here today.
She said the MOE also constantly reminds students and coaches about the importance of giving continuous attention to safety aspects.
Yesterday, Ipoh police chief ACP Abang Zainal Abidin Abang Ahmad said the victim, 16-year-old Muhammad Fauzan Mohd Sulaiman from Johor, reportedly collapsed suddenly around 10.30 am while preparing to enter the field for the second half of the tournament match.
He said the post-mortem conducted by the Raja Permaisuri Bainun Hospital Forensic Department found that the cause of death was internal bleeding from a right hip muscle tear, and the case has been classified as a sudden death report (SDR).
In another development, Fadhlina said the MOE is still awaiting instructions or recommendations from the Ministry of Health (MOH) on the possible requirement to wear face masks in schools, following reports of an increase in influenza cases.
Previously, claims had gone viral alleging that several schools, including in Penang, had made it mandatory for students to wear face masks to curb the spread of influenza, even though state Youth, Sports and Health Committee chairman Daniel Gooi said influenza cases in the state remained under control. — Bernama