Snack shop wants rent relief after school blocks student access during sports day

A snack shop owner at Tsing Yi Sports Ground has recently voiced frustration over teachers preventing students and parents from purchasing food during an athletic meet, calling on authorities to introduce measures to address the issue, including providing rent exemption to reduce operating costs.

According to the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, snack shops at sports grounds are required to remain open when the venue is rented out.

Law, an employee of the snack shop, said it is common to see schools barring students from purchasing snacks, yet he said parents are usually allowed to make purchases freely. He also said it is his first time seeing teachers “gaslighting” both students and parents for making purchases at the shop during an athletic meet.

According to the statement issued by the ELCHK Kwai Shing Lutheran Primary School last night (Feb 24), the school had pre-ordered lunch for the pupils as part of their long-promoted healthy diet, while some parents purchased food from the snack shop with no complaints received.

The school emphasized its commitment to promoting respectful behavior among teachers and will perform additional investigations to avoid future misunderstandings. 

The owner of the stall, Tseng, pointed out the LCSD contract required the stall to remain open during such events but there were no advance notices that some schools would bar students from making purchases.

In response, the LCSD said they had not been notified by the school about the “snack shop ban”, adding that it will call on venue users to provide details of their event in the future for snack shops to adjust their business arrangements.

The department, meanwhile, acknowledged receiving the comments from the food stall owner at Tsing Yi Sports Ground and is actively following up on the matter.