THE Government has agreed to provide £1.2million to set up an East Lancashire Learning Centre.

Learning Centres are not simply about more computers in schools, ministers say. Their purpose is to provide somewhere which will promote IT-based learning and test out new ways of teaching.

A detailed feasibility study is under way at Towneley High School in Burnley, ready for a formal bid to be made for Government cash early in the New Year.

The Department for Education and Skills has said that £540,000 can be made available in 2002/03 and £660,000 in 2003/04

The Government says:

Centres must be based in secondary schools in Excellence in City areas like Blackburn with Darwen and Burnley and Nelson.

They should share facilities with a network of named partner schools. These schools should also play a key role in the management of the centre

They should be state-of-the-art IT centres

Their aim should be to improve access to the latest education technology for pupils and adults

They should increase staying-on rates, reduce truancy figures and improve employment prospects

And they should act as test beds for innovation and new ways of teaching and learning

There are eventually expected to be 70 centres across the country.