IT may seem odd to readers brought up successfully in a mixed education system that local teachers are to be given special training to bridge what is seen as the "gender gap".

In plain language, girls do better than boys in class and at exam time. And lads are falling behind more in Bolton than in comparable local education authorities.

Now, worried education chiefs are taking action.

Practical plans include giving teachers specialist training to boost greater GCSE success for boys, and possibly making them sit next to girls in class.

The reason for the latter move, as Sharples School head Bob Atkinson explained, is that "girls tend to have a more positive attitude to their studies and what they are going to do when they leave school". It is hoped that some of this resolve will rub off on the boys.

Tellingly, he added that many lads believed it wasn't "cool" to be perceived as a hard worker. Parents are also to be enlisted in this campaign.

Unfortunately, the whole ethic of hard work and young achievement is regularly portrayed as only fit for "nerds". This is an idea usually reinforced by teen TV programmes and magazines, and seemingly accepted without question by those youngsters keen to "fit in" with their peers.

It is probably quite true that females, as comparative latecomers to the national achievement ladder, are more motivated and less prone to superficial stereotypes than boys.

But, we believe that the answers still lie at home.

Strong role models are vital to the young, as are strong rules.

And if that means teenagers doing homework instead of hanging around street corners, and working for good marks in class and exams instead of messing about then so be it.

It is up to parents to set the benchmarks, rather than leave it to teachers whose job is teaching, not social engineering.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.