Every school in British Columbia will soon be required to be equipped with two types of lifesaving tools.

The B.C. Ministry of Education has issued a new mandate requiring schools to have automated external defibrillators (AEDs) — tools used to jumpstart a heart during a cardiac arrest — and naloxone kits that can reverse an overdose.

The mandate requires the tools to be in all high schools by the end of this year, while elementary schools must carry the equipment by September 2026.

The move follows advocacy by Grade 11 student Tobias Zhang and a group of his peers at Point Grey Secondary in Vancouver, who mobilized after a friend died of a cardiac event in 2022.

In January, following multiple meetings with Zheng and his classmates, the Vancouver School Board (VSB) passed its own d

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