Call for more funding to tackle truancy

THE Government has been urged to properly fund the National Educational Welfare Board (NEWB) to help reverse trends that show one-quarter of second-level students in poor areas missed at least 20 days of school last year.

The board has published figures which give the first national picture of absenteeism in the country’s 4,000 primary and second-level schools.

Its summary report shows that the average student missed 22 of the required 167 days at second-level schools in areas designated as disadvantaged, and 26% of students missed more than 20 days.