Schoolboy skirt plea

The Sun

Schoolboy Luca Scarabello is demanding the right for lads to wear skirts to class. The 13-year-old, from Camelon, Falkirk, believes that if girls can wear trousers then boys should be able to don traditional female garb. Luca, a pupil at St Mungo’s High in Falkirk, submitted a petition to the Scottish Parliament, to be debated this week.

Compensation culture hits the playground

Daily Mail

Scotland’s schools are facing crippling numbers of compensation-culture cases, with councils forced to dish out more than pound;250,000. Since 2009, taxpayers have had to foot a pound;260,595.29 bill for accidents such as pupils trapping fingers in doors, slipping in the playground and losing clothing, with parents eager to sue for as little as pound;19.

Rooftop pitch plan

Daily Record

A city school could have a football pitch built on its roof because of lack of space. Architects have drawn up the radical solution for Edinburgh’s Boroughmuir High, which is being rebuilt on the site of a former brewery. The current building, in Viewforth, has restricted space and pound;40,000 a year is spent bussing pupils to playing fields.

Numbers for university applications plunge

The Herald

The number of Scots applying to go to university has plummeted faster than in any other part of the UK. Official figures from university admissions body Ucas show a 17 per cent decrease in Scottish applications, compared with the same time last year. Applications from Scots to study at university in Scotland fell by 16 per cent.

Tattoo request `to help identify the missing’

The Scotsman

Dundee University has launched an international appeal for people to send images of their tattoos and piercings to establish an Interpol database to help in the identification of missing persons and unidentified bodies. Researchers at the Centre for Anatomy and Human Identification believe the database could provide vital help for forensics experts worldwide.