this month from a course teaching them how to help fellow students make responsible decisions on issues affecting teenagers today, such as AIDS, drugs and sex.

They will now take part in the "peer helper'' pilot programme at Warwick Academy, Whitney Institute and Berkeley Institute.

The 30 "peer helpers'' were selected by fellow students as people they would feel comfortable telling personal problems to.

The Ministries of Education and Health and Social Services are hoping the programme will boost academic performance and reduce discipline problems in local high schools.

The "peer helper'' programme, already in place in US and British schools, was a joint venture by the two Ministries.

After reading last year in a British newspaper about the success of the programme, Education officer Mr. Raymond Latter, together with Health and Social Services officials, sought more information.

They learned research in Canada and America showed the programme had been successful in reducing discipline problems, boosting academic performance and creating a more trusting and positive environment in schools.

Mr. Latter said research also showed students were more likely to go to their peers with personal problems than their parents, teachers or counsellors.

Letters about the programme were sent out last year to all local high schools inviting them to take part. The first three schools that volunteered were chosen.

Students at those schools were then asked to either volunteer to become a "peer helper'' or select the students they felt would make good counsellors.

Students from only three schools were trained as peer helpers due to limited funding, Mr. Latter said. If the programme proves successful, funding will be made available to involve all public secondary schools.

It cost $10,000 to hire a "peer helper'' team from America to train the 30 students, he said.

Mr. Latter said the "peer helpers'' had all signed a contract requiring them to keep all problems told to them confidential, except in the case of a suicide threat or other life threatening situations.

He said a "peer helper's job was not to advise, but to listen, let students know where to get help, and assist them in making good decisions''.

"The programme is mainly to help make kids think through their problems and make good decisions,'' Mr. Latter said. "It's to give them a chance to stop and think before rushing headlong into something.''