Sixth form students who regularly go to school will be paid up to £30 a week as an incentive to stay, it was announced today.
The "earn as you learn" scheme will be means-tested but has been hailed as a way of reducing the UK's post-16 drop out rate.
In pilot projects, attendance of 16-year-old boys rose by 6.9% while participation for 16-year-old girls increased by 5.9%.
All eligible Year 11 students are being urged to apply for the new Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) to improve the post-16 drop out rates from education, which are among the highest in the western world.
The pilot schemes have been carried out in 56 local education authorities (LEAs) since 1999 and involved 120,000 Year 12 students largely from economically deprived areas.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) and University of Loughborough estimated the staying on rate had risen by 10% in the most deprived areas.
EMAs will available across the country as of September this year.
Anyone who lives in a house where income is £30,000 or less will be eligible for the means tested payments which will vary between £10 and £30 a week.
Bonuses of £100 also could be given out to students who stay on their courses and demonstrate advances in learning.
Welcomed
The move was welcomed by both the National Union of Teachers (NUT) and the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT).
Olive Forsyth, from the NUT, said: "We welcome it. This would allow 16-year-olds to have some sort of income and to continue their education.
"There used to be discretionary grants which were effectively wiped out by the Conservatives - this seems to be a suitable replacement."
Chris Keates, from the NASUWT, added: "We have actually been quite supportive of the whole scheme.
"It enables pupils to maintain their access to further education and so we have not experienced any difficulties with the EMAs.
"As long as there is no administrative or bureaucratic burden on the schools and there doesn't appear to be, then the principle as far as we are concerned is to be supported."
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Re the money to be paid to 6th formers - just under half of what a pensioner has to live on each week, and they say they 'care about the old'. Where is the justice in this, lets hope that this enflames the pensioner pressure groups to press ahead with vigour in their campaign.
So we're paying for children to go to school now are we? Brilliant, NOT! Where do they come up with these crack pot ideas. I wish I'd been paid to continue my education, but no, I had to pay the college to continue my education and will so again at university. They already pay persistant truants from school so why don't we start paying criminals to. This country is a joke.
So now we have to pay children to remain in our failing state education system.
On the one hand we have our achievers (who have been taught in their homes the value of good education) being forced to pay for their own education at university and our ignorant (who have not been taught the above) being paid to under achieve in failing schools. We taxpayers really are suckers you know !
The middle class (majority) public once again expected to fork over hard earned cash to families who have failed to impress upon their children the importance of a sound education.
The fact remains that if a child is not taught by its parents the value of education and encouraged to learn - they will get stuffed in later life. These children have the option to stay or not and should take guidance from their families and not payment from the taxpayer (not the government as they would like you to believe !!!)
I don't understand why it is thought that these people deserve the money. It's no more difficult for them to go and get a job thn it is for the rest of us. I will be starting at sixth-form in september and I have a number of friends who will be recieving the EMA all of whom earn / receive more money than I do in the first place. It could be argued that my education will suffer because I have to spend time I could be using to do school work to go and earn money.
Let me get this straight, because my parents earn enough I am expected to be capable of maintaining a job as well as my studies? Its not like it starts costing more to feed these people once they enter sixth form so why do they need more money? I personally don't recieve any "allowance" from my parents, but do I go whining to the government? NO! I get a job like any other normal person. All this allowance is going to accomplish is to make these children dependant and reluctant to work for themselves, possibly damaging their futures permanatly. So while they achieve grades because they are paid to I have to study around my part time job, possibly under achieving in comparison. Im not going to sixth form because I get money, I'm going for the intended reason, because I want to learn more and as such achieve more in life than may otherwise have been possible.