A third of pupils paid to stay in education

MORE than a third of senior school pupils in Scotland receive weekly cash payments to encourage them to continue with their education.

Figures showed that 37,230 school and college pupils benefited from the 30 a week Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) during 2009-10.

The scheme was set up to help youngsters from poorer backgrounds stay on in education, with figures showing 36 per cent of school pupils aged between 16 and 19 received the allowance in the last year.

The UK Government has announced it is to scrap the scheme south of the Border, but the Education Secretary, Mike Russell, insisted the Scottish Government was right to continue with the payments..

A total of 33.2 million was paid to teenagers under the EMA scheme last year - 2.2m less than in 2008-09.