Rotorua kids on path to hard life

Students skipping school regularly may be struggling in class or having problems at home, a Rotorua truancy worker says.

Tom Hale, co-ordinator of the Rotorua District Truancy Service, told The Daily Post when students were referred to the service for absenteeism the community, family and social services were all involved.

"Often truancy is just one of the issues," he said.

"Sometimes, there's things going on in families ... which can be quite complex, or sometimes it could be as simple as a student falling behind on one area of school."

A Wairarapa school announced legal action this week against parents who failed to ensure their child attended school for two and a half years.

Greytown's Kuranui College said after considerable efforts to address "significant non-attendance issues", prosecution was the only option.

In 2011, a biennial school attendance survey found schools in the Eastern Bay area had some of the country's worst truancy rates.

Nationally, 29,000 students were truant from school on any given day, which translated to an overall rate of 4 per cent.

Kawerau schools had the country's worst truancy rate at 10.3 per cent. Schools in Whakatane, Taupo and Rotorua also rated above the national average at 7.5, 6.8 and 5.4 per cent respectively.

Mr Hale said truancy was a problem for students of all ages. The problem needed attention from the community as a whole.

The Secondary Principals' Association warns that regular truants are more likely to become criminals.

"If they're absent for a long period, they're missing out on their education," association president and John Paul College principal Patrick Walsh said. "They're less likely to complete level two NCEA and therefore not get a job or lead on to an apprenticeship or work."

Truancy had wide-ranging ramifications for society and the problem needed greater focus, Mr Walsh said.

"Those students [regular truants] are the ones who go into adulthood with a whole range of other socio-economic disadvantages, which then cost them and the taxpayer a lot of money.

"And those students are the ones who tend to get into criminal offending."

Under the Education Act, schools have the power to prosecute parents if they fail to ensure children attend school regularly between the ages of 6 and 16.

Prosecutions must be approved by the Education Ministry, which can also prosecute parents if a child aged 6-16 has not been enrolled in school.

However, prosecutions are a last resort and only happen after consultation with various family, youth and anti-truancy agencies. Only four truancy prosecutions have been made by schools this year. In 2011, there were 15 cases.

Three non-enrolment prosecution cases have occurred this year, compared to eight in 2011.

At 0.3 per cent, schools in the South Island town of Waimate had the country's lowest truancy rate, followed by those in the Waitaki district, which had a 1.1 per cent truancy rate.