Education officials plan truancy crackdown

SCHOOL dodgers are facing a serious crackdown in September as more than 50 truancy officers are ready to tackle the growing problem.

The National Educational Welfare Board (NEWB) will begin advertising for 36 staff this week, to add to more than 20 officers already in place.

The main focus of the Education Welfare Officers (EWOs) will be to negotiate with schools and parents of children up to the age of 16 with poor attendance records. It is estimated that hundreds of children play truant every day but there is nobody to monitor them at present.