Education: Tales Out of School

STRANGE STORIES FROM THE GLOBAL CLASSROOM

Vice is nice: Hundreds of young prostitutes evicted from a Bangladesh brothel and moved to a heavily guarded vagrants' centre have said they want to return to their profession rather than suffer the educational courses offered by the authorities. "Take us out of this prison," one shouted at journalists outside. "We like our way of earning a living."

She accused the authorities of "stripping us of that right." Social welfare officials said 235 women were arrested at Tanbazar, a 111-year-old brothel in Narayanganj town 12 miles from the capital and moved to "safe custody" in Kashimpur. Housed with more than 300 beggars and young criminals detained under a government reform programme, the Tanbazar girls have been staging a noisy protest since their arrival. Bangladeshi authorities have reportedly allocated $400,000 for a programme to rehabilitate the women through vocational training and financial support.

Fallout on the pitch: Pennsylvania State College has come up with a unique way to keep its football field moist during America's current drought: water that cooled a nuclear reactor.

The university, which is barred from using fresh water on the practice field, plans to use water used to cool a nearby nuclear reactor, starting next week. School officials have insisted that the plan will in no way expose players or the public to radioactivity.

The mummy's curse: An Egyptian languages teacher pronounced dead after drowning off the coast of Alexandria regained consciousness after spending three hours in a mortuary refrigerator. Ali Abdel-Rahim Mohammad, 32, said the last thing he remembered before blacking out was a dizzy spell and seeing a vision of his mother's face while swimming at Alexandria. He was awakened by a loud bang and unfamiliar voices. "I found myself locked inside tight

walls of metal and whispers of people I didn't recognise," he said. Mohammed grabbed the hand of an attendant who was trying to close the refrigerator drawer in the Alexandria mortuary. His firm grip sent

the attendant and a family who had apparently come to identify the body of a loved one scurrying out of the morgue screaming "help us!"

Nick Fearn