A PREGNANT teenager who has stayed away from school for almost three months will still carve out a decent career, her mum has insisted.

But education chiefs have warned that Nina Dixon's mother faces punishment and the possibility of three months in jail if she fails to ensure her daughter finishes her education, either at home or at school.

Nina, 16, a pupil at Darwen Vale High School, has been kept at home since October.

Her mother Caroline, 53, has vowed Nina will never return, claiming health and safety rules - including going to a specified room at break and lunchtimes and being accompanied by staff to and from lessons - made her daughter "feel like a leper".

Caroline, of Duckworth Hall, Oswaldtwistle, hopes Nina can study a two-day hairdressing course at Blackburn College and hopefully do her GCSEs there the year after and is confident the teenager, now 22-weeks pregnant, will do well.

She said: "My daughter has not done any school work since the start of last term because of what's happened at Darwen Vale.

"She has been offered a place at the St Thomas' Pupil Referral Unit, Blackburn, but she would feel stigmatised there.

"But she is a resilient person and hopefully she will be able to continue her studies at Blackburn College and I am optimistic she will get a decent career, such as in hairdressing."

A Department of Education and Skills spokesman warned: "Health and safety should not be a reason to prevent a pregnant pupil from attending school.

"LEAs have a duty to provide suitable education' for pupils of compulsory school age who become parents.

"Parents also have a legal responsibility to ensure their child attends school and face punishment including penalty notices and ultimately court cases and a possible prison sentence."

Darwen Vale bosses have defended the conditions saying the well-being of all pupils was their prime responsibility.