Campaign to highlight school attendance importance

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

The move is part of an initiative to tackle non-attendance that also includes the establishment of new guidelines for schools and support services for parents.

In a report published today, the state body charged with ensuring good school attendance said more than 80,000 children missed at least 20 days of school last year.

It said it took on 17,000 new cases during its first full year of service and also received 7,000 calls to its helpline, most of them from parents.

Commenting on the report, NEWB chief executive Eddie Ward said he was determined to tackle non-attendance and particularly the culture whereby parents take their children out of school for Christmas shopping or other casual reasons.