Summer students at a community action group maths school are counting on cash at the end of the course.

For successful graduates of the three-week Rebuilding Our Community teach-ins will get a whopping $300 each.

ROC organiser Lou Matthews said: "We wanted to remove the economic factor from the situation.

"Having the reward will help the students who may not have summer jobs -- and it removes the pressure to get money by any means neccessary.'' Rebuilding Our Community (ROC) is a community action group formed by a group of young black men from central Pembroke.

ROC member Dwayne Caines and Mr. Matthews explained that the organisation is aimed at forging links with alienated young black males.

The group is best-known for an annual six-a-side football tournament -- but the two men explained that soccer was just the beginning.

Mr. Matthews said: "We wanted to re-enter the community in a non-traditional, non-threatening way.

"We recognised that soccer was a legitimate inroad to building a rapport with the community, and we used it as a springboard.'' The soccer tournament is now entering its fourth year and ROC members decided to focus on using young men's heads rather than their feet over the summer -- the Passports to Success programme.

Mr. Matthews said the three-week mathematics programme was designed to help young men become interested in learning.

In addition to Mr. Matthews, who is the lead intructor, computer science teacher Craig Crichlow and physics teacher Chris Swan will provide additional instruction a few times per week. All three are teachers at the Berkeley Institute.

Students who are picked for the programme will meet four nights a week for a two-hour class.

Mr. Matthews said the teaching programme is designed to be interactive and "cutting-edge''.

By using non-traditional methods, they hope to generate a greater interest in the subject from unmotivated students.

"The new wave of mathematics is to use computer technology, multimedia curriculum, and graphing calculators,'' Mr. Matthews said.

"The students like the hands-on, interactive approach to mathematics, and we want them to use programmes that will help them to become critical thinkers.

"We brought the programme into the school to deal with the level of frustration that young men were encountering, especially since we've had considerable success with the `man to man' type of programme.'' And if the youngsters are not immediatedly motivated by the joy of learning, ROC is hoping the $300 each will receive upon completion of the programme will light a spark of interest.

Although the soccer tournament has received considerable help from Coral Beach, ROC is seeking sponsorship from big business for the mathematics programme.

Mr. Caines said: "Although we've received donations from the Berkeley Institute and accountancy KPMG Peat Marwick, we're still looking for sponsors to finish the programme.'' "People tend to move with established programmes, and often do not support innovative projects.'' "We're a grassroots organisation -- no frills -- and we're always looking for sponsors.''