'Pass-Out Challenge' banned in schools - Mahdzir

The 'pass-out challenge', a game which involves applying enormous pressure to the chest until the person is rendered unconscious, is banned in all schools with immediate effect, Education Minister Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid said on Monday.

He said action would be taken against anyone plating the game in school.

Further instruction would be issued to the teachers in-charge of students' affairs and hostel wardens to take action against those playing the game, he said.

He told reporters this after opening the Fifth Malindo International Counselling Seminar at the islamic education Campus of the Teachers' Education Institute here Monday.

Mahdzir commenting on a video of the game which had been viralled on the social media since a few days ago.

In another development, Mahdzir said the ministry was prepared to consider a sugegstion by the Malaysian International Counselling Association (Perkama) for schools with an enrolment of less than 350 people to have counselling teachers or counselors.

He said there were currently about 11,000 full-time counselors at schools nationwide, a ratio of one counselor for every 500 students.

"So far, the play an effective role in helping schools with problematic students," he said, adding that only schools with an enrolment of more than 350 students had counselors.

-- BERNAMA