A fifth of students ‘miss school regularly’

ALMOST one-in-five Irish second-level students miss school or classes regularly, according to an international report published yesterday.

The major report studied participation levels among 15-year-olds in 41 countries. Of the 3,854 Irish students surveyed, 18% of students admitted they missed school, skipped classes or arrived late three or four times in the past fortnight, or did all three at least once in the same time.

Only nine of the 27 developed countries surveyed had lower levels of non-participation. Of the 14 non-member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) also surveyed, only students in Albania, Indonesia, Liechtenstein and Hong Kong-China had better attendance records.