Sixteen-year-olds in the North are to be offered up to £30 a week to stay at school or college, it was announced today.
The means-tested allowance will be available from September to applicants from lower income families, said Ms Jane Kennedy, Minister responsible for Education, Employment and Learning.
Performance bonuses linked to progress, behaviour and achievement will also be payable.
The Educational Maintenance Allowances, have already been piloted in England and are being extended to Northern Ireland in line with an introduction of the scheme across Britain at the start of the next school year.
Ms Kennedy said that although the Government was starting with 16-year-olds, it intended extending the scheme to the whole 16-19 age group in subsequent years.
Details of the weekly allowance and the qualifying conditions are being formalised and will be announced through a public information campaign starting in April.
PA
