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‘Snack-dealing’ schoolboy given suspension… and a scholarship

Selling snacks at school and pocketing the profits - is it illegal dealing or an impressive flair for business? At one school in Italy, it's unclear.

Published: 16 December 2016 16:17 CET
Updated: 16 December 2016 17:36 CET
'Snack-dealing' schoolboy given suspension... and a scholarship
The boy brought the treats in his schoolbag, and received orders via WhatsApp. File photo: Pexels

A schoolboy from Turin made national headlines after he was caught selling food and drinks to his peers at cheaper prices than the school cafeteria.

The 17-year-old has received both praise and punishment for the scheme.

He started taking orders for snacks and fizzy drinks – which he bought at a local discount store – last year, and received a ten-day suspension when he was caught by a teacher.

And when staff found out that the boy, who cannot be named due to his age, had started up his 'black market' again this year, he was handed a longer suspension of 15 days.

The case made headlines across the country and provoked fierce debate, with many arguing that the teen should be lauded for his entrepreneurial spirit.

He's received a handful of job offers from startups and marketing companies, as well as a prestigious scholarship from the Einaudi Foundation, a socio-economic institute which usually reserves its scholarships for post-graduate students, which said the boy's initiative should be “encouraged, not persecuted”.

“Perhaps the small illegal businessman of today will become the large-scale legal businessman of tomorrow,” said the school's headteacher, Stefano Fava, TorinoToday reported. 

“However, the school needs to teach pupils to respect the law and our rules.”

Other pupils at the Pininfarina technical school in Turin, which has 1,700 students, protested against the Einaudi award.

Around 500 students gathered outside the school on Wednesday, the day the boy was due to receive his award, with banners proclaiming 'Illegality is the new high school diploma' and 'scholarships for us too!'.

Piedmont's regional councillor for education, Gianna Pentenero, said: “It's understandable that the decision to give a scholarship to the student suspended for abusive snack-selling has provoked a certain upset among his peers. 

“I think it's a mistake to give a message that disrespect for the rules will be interpreted as innovative entrepreneurial skill.”

The boy's suspension period will be spent volunteering with a charity selected by the school next year. The 15 days will not be consecutive, in order to minimize disruption to his schoolwork.

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CLIMATE CRISIS

‘Extreme’ climate blamed for world’s worst wine harvest in 62 years

World wine production dropped 10 percent last year, the biggest fall in more than six decades, because of "extreme" climate changes, the body that monitors the trade said on Thursday.

Published: 26 April 2024 08:48 CEST
'Extreme' climate blamed for world's worst wine harvest in 62 years

“Extreme environmental conditions” including droughts, fires and other problems with climate were mostly to blame for the drastic fall, said the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV) that covers nearly 50 wine producing countries.

Australia and Italy suffered the worst, with 26 and 23 percent drops. Spain lost more than a fifth of its production. Harvests in Chile and South Africa were down by more than 10 percent.

The OIV said the global grape harvest was the worst since 1961, and worse even than its early estimates in November.

In further bad news for winemakers, customers drank three per cent less wine in 2023, the French-based intergovernmental body said.

Director John Barker highlighted “drought, extreme heat and fires, as well as heavy rain causing flooding and fungal diseases across major northern and southern hemisphere wine producing regions.”

Although he said climate problems were not solely to blame for the drastic fall, “the most important challenge that the sector faces is climate change.

“We know that the grapevine, as a long-lived plant cultivated in often vulnerable areas, is strongly affected by climate change,” he added.

France bucked the falling harvest trend, with a four percent rise, making it by far the world’s biggest wine producer.

Wine consumption last year was however at its lowest level since 1996, confirming a fall-off over the last five years, according to the figures.

The trend is partly due to price rises caused by inflation and a sharp fall in wine drinking in China – down a quarter – due to its economic slowdown.

The Portuguese, French and Italians remain the world’s biggest wine drinkers per capita.

Barker said the underlying decrease in consumption is being “driven by demographic and lifestyle changes. But given the very complicated influences on global demand at the moment,” it is difficult to know whether the fall will continue.

“What is clear is that inflation is the dominant factor affecting demand in 2023,” he said.

Land given over to growing grapes to eat or for wine fell for the third consecutive year to 7.2 million hectares (17.7 million acres).

But India became one of the global top 10 grape producers for the first time with a three percent rise in the size of its vineyards.

France, however, has been pruning its vineyards back slightly, with its government paying winemakers to pull up vines or to distil their grapes.

The collapse of the Italian harvest to its lowest level since 1950 does not necessarily mean there will be a similar contraction there, said Barker.

Between floods and hailstones, and damp weather causing mildew in the centre and south of the country, the fall was “clearly linked to meteorological conditions”, he said.

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