Going to great lengths to acquire an education

STOKE High School in Ipswich found itself with a new student recently. The seemingly bright lad, who registered as an asylum seeker on arrival to the UK, was placed there by the Home Office so he could get an education while his case was pending.

He was an unaccompanied minor, it said; a refugee from some war-torn African country, and the school was told to give him special care. Poor kid.

Yet it turns out he was smarter than the authorities.

Parents alleged the new pupil was 30. His school uniform belied his true age – given as 15 – and it was only when he allegedly revealed to fellow class-mates that he was actually an adult man, who desperately needed GCSEs because he feared his actual third-level qualifications wouldn’t be recognised in England, they of course took to social media in outrage.

Parents immediately descended on the school demanding he be expelled, as he was clearly a danger to their actual 15-year-olds. Of course, there’s no evidence he is, but you can see the dilemma.

The authorities are mortified, naturally, and probably do need to send him somewhere more appropriate than secondary school, but don’t you admire the smarts of a bloke to want an education so much?