Truancy officers will not be in place until 2003

IT will be another year at least before the 300 staff needed to enforce laws on school attendance are in place, secondary principals were told yesterday.

The National Educational Welfare Board became operational during the summer but chief executive Eddie Ward said it will take some time before education welfare officers are recruited and trained.

Elements of the Education (Welfare) Act 2000 are being introduced on a phased basis, he told delegates at the National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals’ (NAPD) annual conference.

The Education (Welfare) Act raises the minimum school leaving age from 15 to 16, requires schools to notify the board of more than 20 days absence in a year and obliges parents to provide written reason for a child's absence from school.

“There are around 4,000 schools to be serviced and about 300 officers will be required to provide a national service. Hopefully, the first new officers will be recruited early next year but they won’t all be in place by next summer,” Mr Ward said.

However, the 36 school attendance officers who worked in Dublin, Cork and Waterford cities have transferred as welfare officers and are continuing their work under the new law.

NAPD members expressed anger yesterday over lack of information about their obligations under the new law on issues such as expulsion or accepting students expelled from nearby schools.

They also voiced concern over the need for additional secretarial support or delegating other staff to help them meet their responsibilities.

“There is an enormous amount of work involved and it will fall on our shoulders to do that work without extra resources. From our experience of carrying the burden of keeping schools open last year, that is not acceptable,” said Rock Kirwin from Kilrush Community School in Clare.

Mr Ward said guidelines would be issued soon on matters of concern.