A PIONEERING scheme launched in East Lancashire's schools after the September 11 terror strikes will continue after headteachers stepped in to save it.

The Lancashire Council of Mosques' Understanding Islam project was born in 2002 - months after the horrific plane strikes in New York - to promote community cohesion in the county.

Anjum Anwar, 49, tours the county's schools talking and demystifying Islam, organising mosque tours and training teachers in more detail about the religion.

Pioneering tailor-made workshops and assemblies and mosque visits have been presented to over 300 schools including those in Accrington, Blackburn, Darwen and Burnley.

But it was feared the scheme would have to be scrapped when funding dried up.

Lancashire Country Council and Blackburn with Darwen Council - who oversee a similar scheme called the Cultural Awareness Project - had each provided £30,000 annual funding but this will stop from this year after both authorities failed to secure grants.

A bid for £210,000 Home Office community funding was also unsuccessful and the project looked doomed.

But today, Anjum, a mother-of-one, said schools themselves have now stepped in to secure the scheme with impressed headteachers willing to save the scheme by paying for visits out of their own budgets.

She said: "Up to now there have been 300 school visits and we are able to continue the project as schools. We try and make sure they are purpose-built visits which are very personal to the school.

"I am grateful for the funding we have had from both councils but unfortunately there is no grants for them to access.

"Schools have said they have changed pupils' perceptions on Islam and I am delighted they have said they are prepared to pay as without them the projects would have ended.

"We expect to have 20 schools signed up by end December ranging from Brunshaw Primary School, Burnley to Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School in Black-burn."

Janet Cooper, head-teacher at Belthorn Primary School, which does not have a single Muslim pupil among the 150 on roll, is among the backers.

She said: "Things like the mosque visits are ideal for our school as it fits into our RE provision and they help promote understanding among our pupils."

Mosque visits are £30 a time and include a guided tour, question and answer session and literature and school visits are £75 for half a day and £150 for full day.