A CHARITY which helps deprived black children in education has said it will now target white working class boys in towns like Burnley.

New figures show young white boys from poor backgrounds are at a disadvantage in schools.

And now, the Generating Genius charity has vowed to switch its focus from clack pupils to their white counterparts.

Founder Tony Sewell says he will tackle the ‘victim mentality’ among poor white pupils.

Poor white boys are the worst at GCSEs and the least likely group to go to university, according to government statistics.

Mr Sewell told The Times the charity would target youngsters from northern towns.

He added: “Britain’s leading black-led charity will have a new focus — white working-class young people from the north and Midlands.

“We will seek diamonds from areas like Burnley, Wakefield, Dewsbury, Workington and Bolton. They are the children now at the bottom of the pile academically.

“Every student with Generating Genius gets to a top university more or less.

“Their only headache at the end of it is which job offer to accept.

“We’ve created an experience for black children that goes against the norm, by using a positive methodology.

“There can be a victim mentality, the same rhetoric around white boys that there used to be around black boys. We don’t stand for that. We demand the best and say you can be the best. Our method is to find the diamonds in the area and use them to captain the ship to drive the others forward.”

Just a quarter of white working class boys achieves five good GCSE grades.

And only three per cent of Oxford students come from this group, a report from the National Education Opportunities Network revealed last year. In contrast many children of immigrants excel at school and go on to university.

Two leading public schools were last week condemned for turning down scholarships of £1.2million to help poor white boys.

Winchester College and Dulwich College snubbed bequests from Professor Sir Bryan Thwaites, 96, because they thought they may break laws on equality.

London mayor Sadiq Khan said he believed the schools should have accepted the offer ‘as long as it was targeted towards those who needed a helping hand’. He said Sir Bryan’s intentions were ‘noble and good’. Trevor Phillips, former chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, also suggested the decision was wrong.

He said: “One state school has already accepted Thwaites’ offer. Ironically, but not surprisingly, its headmaster is black. Bad luck, Dulwich College and Winchester.”

Last year, rap star Stormzy set up scholarships to help black students attend Cambridge University.