First payments for college attendance

Monday, 24 January 2005 12:00 AM

A new Government scheme that rewards teenagers for good attendance and effort last term will pay out bonuses this week.

Around 200,000 teenagers aged 16 plus will receive £100 bonuses this week under the means-tested Education Maintenance Allowances (EMAs).

Almost 75 per cent of teenagers benefiting from the scheme qualified for the bonus payment.

Skills Minister Ivan Lewis said: "With this extra cash, young people who might have been tempted to drop out of their courses into low-paid jobs after the New Year holiday have been given a huge incentive to stay on."

He added: "Students have worked hard for their bonuses. They have all signed personal agreements for attendance and commitment and their schools and college are reporting renewed motivation in the classroom. This is a something-for-something scheme which proved during trials to be exceptionally effective in helping people stay on.

"Many young people across England receiving EMA since we introduced it nationwide in September would not otherwise have had the means to continue studying after their GCSEs."

An estimated 270,000 young people receive up to £30 a week to continue in education and the allowances are being extended to include short courses.

EMAs were introduced last September to improve post-16 education figures, as the UK has one of the worst rates in the industrialised world. Under the scheme, teenagers whose household income is under £30,000 receive weekly payments.

Students are eligible for a further bonus in July, and then again in October if they return for a second year.

However, the Liberal Democrats attacked the £20 million spending on bonuses, calling it "excessive".

Lib Dems education spokesman Phil Willis said: "The EMA is a good idea to support students staying on in the sixth-form or at college. But to give these bonuses for literally turning up seems to be taking the idea to an unacceptable extreme."

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