A mother has been warned she faces jail unless she manages to send her 15-year-old daughter to school in what the court heard was among “the worst” school attendance records ever to come before the courts.

The head of the National Education Welfare Board says the organisation had no choice but to dismiss a senior employee.

A Cork mother says her family is at breaking point because her son’s primary school will only teach him for one hour a day.

Children living with a mother who suffers from depression are more likely to miss school.

A judge has warned a 13-year-old boy who persistently skips school — attending just four days in three years — that both his parents will be sent to prison if he does not attend school in September.

As teaching delegates at all levels vent their anger at the Croke Park II deal, a union representative for 10,000 non-teaching staff in the sector has called for the deal to be accepted.

A judge has warned a 15-year-old who persistently skips school that his parents will take turns in prison if he does not attend school for the next month.

Parents who regularly take children out of school to avail of cheaper holidays risk damaging their education.

The state body for monitoring school attendance has said it is “very lucky” to be employing a consultant who quit as director of children’s services in Britain following a damning report.

A report into the deaths of children in care over a 10-year period will be published before the end of the month, Children’s Minister Frances Fitzgerald said yesterday.

School absentee rates are falling — but so are staff levels within the body charged with monitoring it, with one county being overseen by just one senior manager.

Parents of a 10-year-old boy claim he has been bullied out of school due to racial taunting over his accent.

A new initiative in Ballymun, in Dublin, has helped almost halve the absenteeism rate amongst schoolchildren in less than two years.

Nine people were jailed last year for failing to send their children to school.

A JUDGE has questioned the “layers and layers of bureaucracy” which she says are preventing a child from getting an education appropriate to his needs.

JOYCE DOYLE’S son displayed “severe anxiety” which made him physically ill when he began attending secondary school.

IRISH EXAMINER reporters Noel Baker and Cormac O’Keeffe are among the winners of this year’s annual Justice Media Awards.

THE body in charge of school attendance has said it only takes criminal proceedings against parents as a last resort after a mother-of-five was jailed for a month for failing to make her son go to classes.

A RECORD number of legal warnings were issued to the parents of children who failed to attend school last year.

THERE were 13 convictions against parents relating to truant children in the first five months of this year, one of which ended in a custodial sentence, according to the National Education Welfare Board (NEWB).

THE number of children receiving home tuition grants has increased, but only a fraction of the hundreds of schoolgirls who become pregnant are availing of the payments, with only 70 teenage girls receiving the grant last year.

ANYTHING that helps our cluttered courts and school systems operate more efficiently is to be welcomed.

Dublin senior football star Conal Keaney and his Wexford hurling counterpart Malachy Trevers are lending their support to a bid to a new drive to try and keep kids in school.

PARENTS’ representatives have said they believe State systems have failed if the threat of jail is held over parents who do not send their children to school.

Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael today clashed on jobs and cost of living issues as the latest poll swung towards the Opposition.

Student absenteeism remains a huge problem nationwide, according to the National Education Welfare Board's latest annual report.

New figures reveal over 80,000 children in this country miss more than 20 days of school a year.

Traveller parents do not know how to deal with schools when their children are subjected to bullying and racist name-calling, a group revealed today.

The Government came under pressure today to tackle educational disadvantage as figures showed more than half of students in some areas drop out of school before completing their Leaving Certificate.

The National Education Welfare Board has called upon parents and primary school teachers to tackle the issue of absenteeism in primary schools.

Anti-social Behaviour Orders are a quick-fix solution which will only criminalise young people, it was claimed today.

The National Education Welfare Board is planning a national campaign to raise awareness of the importance of school attendance.

MORE THAN 20 parents who failed to ensure their children attended school face a €600 fine and could go to jail for up to three months, the National Education Welfare Board (NEWB) has warned.

The National Education Welfare Board is reportedly set to take legal moves against more than 20 parents due to poor school attendance by their children.

A study by the National Education Welfare Board has found that more than one-quarter of secondary school students from poorer areas miss at least one month of school every academic year.

AS schools across the country open today, it is shocking that upwards of 1,000 children will not make the vital transition from primary to second-level education.

UP TO 1,000 children beginning school this week will not make it to second level education unless resources in primary schools are improved, teachers and opposition parties claimed yesterday.

BULLYING, help for special needs children and advice on what to do with a child who refuses to go to school were the main concerns of parents using a new education helpline.

ONE in five Leaving Certificate students succeeded last year in having their results upgraded.

PARENTS who take their children out of school during term could be fined, the national agency that monitors pupil attendance has warned.

Fine Gael has called on the Government to combat school truancy by putting in place more educational welfare officers.

A major new initiative aimed at tackling the problem of absenteeism has been announced.

TEACHERS have accused the Government of ignoring children at risk by delaying the implementation of school attendance laws.

The Minister for Education, Dr Michael Woods has launched an action plan to prevent school dropouts.