TOWN hall chiefs are to announce a multi-million-pound overhaul of Wigan secondary schools.

Education bosses will rebuild or upgrade all 20 high schools. The £280m scheme will shape the educational landscape for decades but may involve some closures or mergers.

Wigan has 21,000 secondary pupils but falling birth rates mean an expected drop of 10 per cent by 2012, equivalent to nearly three schools.

The government has put billions of pounds aside to modernise every high school in the country. Some councils, such as Manchester, are already using the Building Schools For The Future programme.

Wigan council has until February to submit a bid for the cash, which will outline their plans for new schools.

A meeting for teachers and school governors at the JJB Stadium this morning (Monday) was outlining local education chiefs' plans for the future.

Work has already begun on Abraham Guest school in Orrell, picked as the first school to receive a £20m upgrade. A new 1,000-pupil building is being built and will open next year.

Nick Hudson, the council's children's services director, said: "We regard this as a fantastic opportunity to transform the lives and opportunities of future generations of young people in our borough."

A number of schools have already closed. Councillors voted in May to shut the PEMBEC school in Pemberton because of falling rolls, with students going instead to Abraham Guest or Shevington High.

Some teachers and parents in the borough are bracing themselves for bad news, as they fear some schools will face the axe.

Mere Oaks Special Needs School in Standish closed in 2006 as part of a shake-up of specialist education.

Martin Hird, Wigan's National Union of Teachers secretary, said: "There is a bit of anxiety about what will be proposed.

"In other authorities, there has been a mixed reaction - so we need to see exactly what the council's plans are."