SEPT 4 — Yesterday, I confiscated some firecrackers from my students. Apparently, they had bought it from one of the school van operators who also had a small, obviously illegal business going on at the back of his van. This person would park his van and, while waiting for his passengers, open up the back of his van and convert it into a small mobile stall selling all sorts of junk food and toys.

Despite the warnings given, this person continues using his van to generate a second income. I understand that he is trying to support his family and make a living but at the same time, it does not justify the illegality of his business. He only has a licence to operate a school van, not a mobile stall.

He sells junk food which is not only full of preservatives but the prices are also quite expensive. He sells little cheap toys which break easily, causing the kids to keep buying them from him. Of course this brings him more money than actually selling a good, sturdy toy in the first place.

He is quite the businessman though. Every once in a while, he will come up with a new product to sell; a new toy, a shinier mechanical pencil, a different kind of junk food or “chickadees” as I call them, anything to keep attracting the customers.

Maybe selling junk food and toys is okay to some but when I found out he was selling firecrackers — even if they are considered the harmless, “mercun pop” kind — I think that was just crossing the line. It just shows his lack of care for the safety of his young customers and that angers me because, as a school van operator, that should be his main concern at all times.

Even if it’s just “mercun pop” — the kind that you throw on the ground and it explodes — kids never use them according to the instructions written on the box. Sometimes they throw them to their friends, or stamp on them with their feet just to see what will happen. I had kids coming to me crying because a friend threw one of those little fireballs at them, causing a little sting on their arms. Imagine if they had the “mercun pop” thrown in their faces?

When such things happen, as the teachers on duty, my group members and I will be the first one to be ask why such things happen. Therefore, inasmuch as I hate to be a party-pooper and confiscate their toys, I have no choice.

We remind the kids again and again not to buy junk food or toys from outside. The cleanliness of junk food is not guaranteed and they also face the risk of being hit by a car when they dash across the road to go buy something outside of the school gates. When bad things happen while they are in school, parents won’t question the person selling the junk food; we teachers will be the ones questioned.

There are a few others selling junk food outside of the school gates. There is a house in front of the school which sells junk food and toys to the pupils from a small table set up on its front lawn. We cannot tell the owner to close the stall because it is not set up on school property. So the only thing we can do is tell them to stop selling because junk food is bad for the children’s health and hope they will understand and stop selling them.

We can talk and reprimand them all we want but at the end of the day, they do as they please and they just ignore you. As for the school van operator, talking to him doesn’t work. He didn’t even flinch when the headmaster talked to him, to tell him that what he was doing is illegal and threatened to report him to the authorities. Instead, he kept selling from the back of his van, every day, without fail. Even on rainy days, he would still open his little mobile stall. Glaring or talking to him doesn’t seem to work.

It is outside of the school gates so we really have no jurisdiction. The only thing left to do is actually reporting him to the local council, but that in itself has its own repercussions. He could lose his licence and become unemployed. It would seriously affect his livelihood seeing that he relies on his school van to ferry the children around. I want to take the necessary actions but I don’t want to ruin his livelihood either. What should I do?

For now, I can only tell him to stop selling things that do not benefit my pupils and confiscate the toys and firecrackers when I see them. I want to do the right thing and report him to the authorities so he will understand that we mean business. But if doing that is the right thing, why do I feel so guilty even thinking about doing it?

So if you are in my position, what would you do?

* The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist.