School tries to limit hugging

CALLINGTON, England, Nov. 4 (UPI) -- An English school is trying to limit the amount of time students spend hugging each other.

Steve Kenning, the head teacher at Callington Community College in Cornwall, said some students are late for class because of time they spend between classes exchanging hugs, The Guardian reported. In other cases, unwanted or inappropriate hugs are being given.

Kenning said he has not prohibited hugs, but some students claimed that pupils had been given detention for hugging, while others had been publicly identified and shamed in school assemblies.

"I don't see anything wrong with hugging -- better that than fighting and arguing," said Kath Pascoe, a member of the local council who has grandchildren in the school. "Surely it can't take them that long to get to lessons."