Poor pupils most likely to skip school
December 28, 2009
Government statistics show that pupils from the poorest areas of the country are more likely to play truant from classes than those from the country’s richest areas. In some cases they are five times more likely to avoid attending school. Of around 50,000 students from the poorest 10 percent of the country, 6.1 percent have been labeled persistent absentees. This was compared with 6,820 children from the richest 10 percent of the country only 1.2 percent were regularly away from their classrooms.
A Tory analysis of the statistics claims that it means that the amount of pupils in the U.K.’s poorest areas missing at least one whole day of school each week runs into the tens of thousands. Michael Gove, Shadow children’s secretary has said that more money is needed from the government to help children from poorer areas. However Labour’s Children’s Minister, Dawn Primarolo has hit back by saying that the problems of absenteeism and its relation to poverty is an extremely complex issue. She continued by defending the figures and said that because of government led initiatives the number of pupils missing classes was at an all time low for the 2007/08 period. Over the last decade the amount of children regularly attending the country’s schools was up by around 70,000 pupils.
According to statistics published in October nearly a quarter of a million students from both primary and secondary schools in the U.K. were classed as persistent absentees. The figures were taken over last years autumn term and this years spring term.
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