Pupils allowed to smoke - in a cage

A Belgian school is to let pupils smoke - but only if they stand in a cage and wear a graphic badge.

The badge shows an x-ray image of a pair of lungs, blackened by smoking, reports De Morgen. The new rule will be introduced for pupils over the age of 16 at the Vesalius Institute in Ostende in February.

Assistant-director Claudine Lesaffre said: "We do a lot to promote a healthy lifestyle in our school.

"One third of our 600 students smoke. We've been trying to motivate the youngsters over the years, encouraged teachers to attend smoke free courses. But nothing seems to help. "By wearing the badge, students expresses it is by their own free will they are damaging their health. If this won't help, I don't know what to do anymore."

But the students seem more concerned about having to smoke in a cage than wearing the badge. One is quoted as saying: "It's like putting us in a cage in the zoo."

The Belgian Commissioner For Children's Rights, Ankie Vandekerckhove, criticised the move. She said: "It's stigmatising for the students, because they will be looked at by the whole school. They can take measures that are far better than that badge or that cage."