British school bans fountain pens

A school in Britain has banned the use of fountain pens, because they "stop pupils from getting top exam results".

Jack Williams, 37, headmaster of the Hillcrest Grammar and Preparatory School in Stockport near Manchester, said in future fountain pens will be banned to ensure no pupils suffer marking mistakes in their computer-scanned examination papers, the Daily Express reported.

Williams, however, said: "Banning fountain pens is against all my principles. But I'm told scanners pick up biro (ballpoint pens) much more easily than fountain pen and for maths and science it could be the difference between grades."

He said in the mathematics exams last year, some decimal points were not picked up by the scanners, as a result of which pupils were wrongly marked.