GEORGE always kept himself to himself at school. The teenager was under-achieving, suffered low-esteem and teachers even feared he was at risk of dropping out of mainstream education.

Now, he is making friends and working hard.

George has been persuaded out of his academic and social shells thanks to a new project being championed by the East Lancashire Education Business Partnership, based in Clayton-le-Moors.

The Valued Youth programme, led by co-ordinator Marina Parente, targets secondary school pupils who are disengaging from school and their education. The troubled youngsters are selected as tutors and trained how to help primary pupils who are also struggling with classroom life.

Marina said: "Tutoring younger children encourages the older pupils to use all their experiences and apply them to the difficult task of teaching. Usually, they are assigned to primary children who are having problems learning.

"I really believe they benefit from taking part in the scheme -- and I'll never cease to be amazed at the resilience of young people."

Marina said careful monitoring had found that pupils like George had not only remained in school after taking part, but their academic performance, classroom attendance, discipline and test scores had shown dramatic improvements. One student added: "I feel I'm being useful, and being needed is a terrific feeling."

Valued Youth, sponsored by Coca Cola, is just one element of the work going on at the Education Business Partnership, headed by Neil Mawdesley at the Junction 7 Business Park.

Last week, for instance, he was opening Youth Leadership Day, which was attended by more than 50 students from schools across the region.

It all started back in the mid-90s when industry leaders often moaned that schools were turning out students who were ill-equipped to cope with the world of work. Both sides got round the table and one outcome was the formation of the East Lancashire Education Business Partnership.

Its brief was to help young people understand the world of business and industry -- and to motivate them for the future. Now, its tentacles spread throughout East Lancashire and beyond. And to date more than 40,000 school pupils and 18,000 employers have been involved in education-business links, which include work experience and teacher placements in industry and conference facilities.

"Today's students are the workforce of the future," Mr Mawdesley said. "So it's vital that they know what skills are required by the organisations they could be working for in the future."