A CONTROVERSIAL scheme to send under-achieving younsters to America looks to have been scrapped.

The Leigh Education Action Zone had planned to send a group of six youngsters who were under-achieving in school to New York -- in a bid to motivate them.

But Roland Absalom, director of the education action zone has told the Journal they will not be going ahead with the project. He said: "As we come to the end of our financial year we do re-evaluate our projects. And it is our recommendation that this project does not go ahead. The reason being we do have other projects that will have a greater impact -- in that they will affect more people, so they would therefore represent better value for money. We have also taken the views of headteachers into account. At this moment it won't be going ahead and it is very unlikely it will ever go ahead." Mr Absalom added that they were re-evaluating projects all the time. However the recommendations will need to be ratified by the zone's governing body, the Action Forum. The scheme provoked criticism when it was first announced at an education conference last March. It was claimed the scheme would reward truants and pupils who were failing exams.

If the scheme had gone ahead a group of six pupils from Bedford and Westleigh High Schools -- at a cost of £1,000 each -- would have gone on an exchange trip to New York. The announcement came after Westleigh headteacher John Pout had stated his school had no need of such a scheme due to their improving exam results. And Bedford High headteacher Stephen Preston said his school would only be interested in the scheme if the trip would be taken by pupils who were under-achieving because of special personal circumstances.