SEREMBAN: The Negeri Sembilan Education Department (JPNS) has requested students to declare their health status to the school authorities before participating in any indoor or outdoor classroom activities, especially those involving physical activities.

Its director, Datuk Dr Roslan Hussin also urged parents and guardians to inform the school about the health status of their children to ensure that all relevant information is taken into account by the school authorities, to avoid any untoward incidents.

“On our part, all procedures have been implemented before any activities are carried out, including ensuring that all equipment and weather conditions are taken into consideration by the school authorities. We fully comply with the guidelines set by the Ministry of Education,“ he told Bernama here today.

He said this in response to the incident involving a Form Two student of Sekolah Menengah Sains Tuanku Jaafar in Gentam, Kuala Pilah here, who passed away after collapsing during in a cross-country run yesterday. The student was known to suffer from a congenital heart defect.

Commenting on this matter, Roslan said that investigations are still ongoing and the public is requested not to be worried about actions taken by the school authorities, as all changes are aimed at ensuring that educational programmes are implemented effectively.

Yesterday Kuala Pilah deputy police chief DSP Syahrul Anuar Abdul Wahab was reported as saying that the statement of student’s father revealed that his son had been diagnosed with a congenital heart defect in 2016 and had a treatment card from the National Heart Institute (IJN) as well as being regularly supplied with medication.