Education: Tales Out Of School - Strange Stories From The Global

Don't gimme five: Kent County Council has caused misery for hundreds of schoolchildren by banning their lollipop man from giving them "high fives" as they cross the road.

Garry Wilson, 56, helps 700 pupils at Willesborough Infants School to cross the road to school every day. He has proved to be so popular with children and parents that in 1998, he was voted Lollipop Person of the Year.

His trademark is to say "Gimme Five" as the children pass him on the street. The pupils line up to slap his hand and it is not uncommon for those who have missed out on the high five to burst into tears - such is his popularity.

But the wicked council has prohibited the practice because they claim they have road-safety concerns. "Unfortunately, greeting the crossing patrol man slows the children down and takes their attention away from the busy traffic," says spokeswoman Sarah Howe.

However, Mr Wilson was given a quite different reason. "I was shocked when the headteacher told me to stop. It was all innocent fun and I would never have thought there was anything sinister or untoward. I was told it was because I wasn't to touch the children. So it's all out of my hands - literally."

Now all Mr Wilson can do is give children the thumbs-up as they cross the street.

Parents are making their views plain. "It's a really petty decision," says Alison Stewart, 26, who has a daughter at the school. "This is madness!" says another.

College of distinction: What do you think of when you think of the University of Bradford? Probably not the place where world leaders are educated. But think again! Rinchinnyam Amarjagal graduated with a MSc from the university's Development and Project Planning Centre in 1995. He returned last week to receive an honorary degree - as prime minister of Mongolia.

Scary Bob: Last week, this column reported the partial relaxation on interracial relationships at Bob Jones University in South Carolina, USA. Although dead-set against change, the college will allow black and white to mix, as long as parents are informed and give written consent. To demonstrate that the university is not going soft in its old age, the college president has reposted his views on the college website, stating that Catholicism and Mormonism are cults.

In "President's Corner", Bob Jones recounted how on Christmas Eve, he had considered "the growing worldwide hostility toward the evangelising efforts of Bible-believing Christians ... The diminution of evangelistic enterprise to cults which call themselves Christian, including Catholicism and Mormonism, is frightening."

Hmmm, not half as frightening as Mr Jones.

"Unfortunately, they still treat Catholic bashing as an intramural sport," said Patrick Scully of the New York-based Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights.

c.brown@independent.co.uk

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