A TWO-WEEK crackdown on truancy, the biggest seen in the borough, has now started.

Education welfare officers and police are carrying out patrols in all towns of the borough.

They will be stopping all young people they see on the streets who they believe should be in school.

The patrols will take place in Bury, with mobile squads moving around Prestwich, Whitefield, Radcliffe, Tottington and Ramsbottom. And for the first time, they will also be on the Metrolink.

Figures show that the problem is getting worse. In 1999/2000, around 2,900 pupils in Bury took some unauthorised absence, totalling 18,000 school days off.

This rose to 3,250 pupils and 19,800 days last year, and officers are determined to reverse the trend.Bury's action is part of a national drive involving 80 councils and coincides with the "Truancy and Crime: Tackling it Together" conference which education minister Estelle Morris opens today.y

Mr Alan Cogswell, head of education welfare, said: "We have run similar anti-truancy sweeps before, but never of this size or duration. "Our aim is to put the whole problem of unauthorised school absences firmly in the spotlight," he said. "We want to get parents to take on board how vital education is to their children and the responsibility that they have to ensure they do not miss out "Quite simply, children and people of school age need to be in the classroom. If they are not, they are missing out on a vital period of their lives, a period that equips them in so many ways for the future."

Chief Superintendent Phil Hollowood, head of Bury police, said: "When children are not in school when they should be, there is always the possibility of them not only getting involved in criminal activities, but also of becoming the victims of crime.

"We want to prevent that and we are pleased that the local authority is once again working with us to achieve that."