Concern over truancy

Attendance figures show a quarter of children living in some areas of Craigavon missing school more than 15 per cent of the time.

The figures for 2007/2008 from the Department of Education show Drumgor to be the electoral ward with the worst attendance record in terms of primary school children with 15% of children attending school less than 85% of the time.

Best attenders were in Waringstown, Donaghcloney and Aghagallon where less than 2% of primary school children were absent more than 15% of the time.

Overall figures by council area showed Craigavon in fourth place in the league table of worst attenders behind Belfast, Dungannon and Derry.

In terms of post primary education Craigavon was second only to Belfast in the table of worst attenders for 2007/2008 with 158 pupils out of every 1,000 missing school more than 15% of the time.

Worst offenders were Drumgor, Drumgask, Drumnamoe and Church wards where close to a quarter of post primary pupils were absent more than 15% of the school year.

The wards with the best post primary school attendance were Knocknashane, Bleary, Derrytrasna and Donaghcloney, all with under 10% of pupils falling below the attendance threshold.

Commenting on the figures, Ulster Unionist MLA Alderman Sam Gardiner, said: “Clearly something is going very wrong in our management of post-primary attendance when so many children and young adults are missing at least three days of school each month – that is nearly one week in six."

“Figures released by the Department of Education show that some 20 to 25 per cent of children in certain areas in years 12, 13 and 14 attend school less than 85 per cent of the time.

He added: “I would suggest that rather than remaining fixated with both Irish Language education and an ideological obsession that all the worlds ills will be solved by doing away with selection at 11, the Education Minister tackle a problem that is reaching worrying proportions.

“If the habits of regular attendance are not achieved at school, how do we expect a young person to attend regularly at work and hold onto their job?"

Mr Gardiner concluded: “The statistics showing high levels of absenteeism show a very close relationship between areas of need. Indeed there are acknowledged links between persistent truancy and a child's life chances.

“There is no doubt that absenteeism is detrimental to students’ achievement, self-esteem, and employment potential. Given that our teenagers of today will be parents of tomorrow, if we want to increase the chance of employment and to minimize levels of child poverty in the future, then we must address the issues causing absenteeism.”