The Yunlin County Education Department has moved to ban a popular 3D-printable toy knife from schools, citing concerns that the plastic blades pose a danger to child safety.
The toy, dubbed “carrot knife,” was a viral DIY item on TikTok and sold at toy stores nationwide, but public concern began to mount in September after videos on social media showed that it could pierce an apple.
Education officials on Oct. 24 ordered the county’s 187 public elementary, junior-high and senior-high schools to forbid the toys on campuses, department Commissioner Chiu Hsiao-wen (邱孝文) said on Wednesday.
Photo: Chang Tsung-chiu, Taipei Times
The department issued a ban on the toys, along with a mandate to enhance safety education after receiving reports from teachers that the toys were dangerous, he said.
The order came a day after a group message sent by Chiao Chen Elementary School faculty in the county’s Dounan Township (斗南) alerted parents to the dangerous toys.
The plastic toys have a sharp point that could cause harm in the hands of children aged seven to eight, who lack the sense to be careful when playing, school principal Tsai Shu-ling (蔡淑玲) said.
The school has published leaflets to warn parents about the toy knives and told students at morning assemblies that such objects are not allowed on campus, she said.
A Kaohsiung Education Bureau spokesperson said the municipal agency has also ordered schools to enhance safety education and the regulation of dangerous objects on campus, in reference to the toys.
New Taipei City Councilor Chiang I-chen (江怡臻) over the weekend called on the city government to devise a policy to take the toys out of circulation while also banning them from schools, adding that the toy could be bought cheaply from stores frequented by children.
New Taipei City Acting Mayor Liu He-jan (劉和然) said the city is urgently organizing parent-teacher meetings to discuss the kind of regulations and rules needed to protect students.
Jurisdiction schools have been informed that they should stop children from taking the toys to school, New Taipei City Education Department Commissioner Chang Ming-wen (張明文) said.
Additional reporting by Hsu Li-chuan and Huang Tzu-yang
Taipei and New Taipei City government officials are aiming to have the first phase of the Wanhua-Jungho-Shulin Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line completed and opened by 2027, following the arrival of the first train set yesterday. The 22km-long Light Green Line would connect four densely populated districts in Taipei and New Taipei City: Wanhua (萬華), Jhonghe (中和), Tucheng (土城) and Shulin (樹林). The first phase of the project would connect Wanhua and Jhonghe districts, with Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Chukuang (莒光) being the terminal stations. The two municipalities jointly hosted a ceremony for the first train to be used
MILITARY AID: Taiwan has received a first batch of US long-range tactical missiles ahead of schedule, with a second shipment expected to be delivered by 2026 The US’ early delivery of long-range tactical ballistic missiles to Taiwan last month carries political and strategic significance, a military source said yesterday. According to the Ministry of National Defense’s budget report, the batch of military hardware from the US, including 11 sets of M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and 64 MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems, had been scheduled to be delivered to Taiwan between the end of this year and the beginning of next year. However, the first batch arrived last month, earlier than scheduled, with the second batch —18 sets of HIMARS, 20 MGM-140 missiles and 864 M30
Representative to the US Alexander Yui delivered a letter from the government to US president-elect Donald Trump during a meeting with a former Trump administration official, CNN reported yesterday. Yui on Thursday met with former US national security adviser Robert O’Brien over a private lunch in Salt Lake City, Utah, with US Representative Chris Stewart, the Web site of the US cable news channel reported, citing three sources familiar with the matter. “During that lunch the letter was passed along, and then shared with Trump, two of the sources said,” CNN said. O’Brien declined to comment on the lunch, as did the Taipei
A woman who allegedly attacked a high-school student with a utility knife, injuring his face, on a Taipei metro train late on Friday has been transferred to prosecutors, police said yesterday. The incident occurred near MRT Xinpu Station at about 10:17pm on a Bannan Line train headed toward Dingpu, New Taipei City police said. Before police arrived at the station to arrest the suspect, a woman surnamed Wang (王) who is in her early 40s, she had already been subdued by four male passengers, one of whom was an off-duty Taipei police officer, police said. The student, 17, who sustained a cut about
RSS