free tuition for some public high school students who plan to attend Bermuda College.

Government will now foot the college bill of senior students who maintain a B average and a 95 percent attendance record. But the students will not be drug tested.

Sen. Scott originally opposed the policy introduced by former Education Minister Tim Smith who made the offer last June in an effort to stem growing absenteeism.

The criteria, according to the former Government, was that students at CedarBridge Academy and Berkeley Institute would have to maintain at least a B average, a 95 percent attendance record, and agree to be randomly drug tested.

Asked earlier this month on whether the new Government would honour the former Government's promise, Sen. Scott said they would not. He accused the United Bermuda Party of making the promise to win votes. And he argued that taxpayers already "heavily subsidised'' the Bermuda College.

Calling the idea a "half-cocked election promise'', Sen. Scott said: "It must have been one of their desperate moves to try to stay in power.'' However, two weeks ago the Education Minister conceded that he would ask the Board of Education and the Board of the Bermuda College to "explore the merits of such a proposal''.

And in a press release yesterday he revealed that his Ministry was now ready to adopt the programme with some modification. The requirement for drug testing has been removed.

Acting Education Minister Nelson Bascome explained that a lack of funds to hire personnel to administer the tests was the reason the requirement had been dropped. But he admitted that if funding became available in the next budget, the stipulation might be reinstated.