Minister in the dark over truancy policing

new-zealand-national-party

Wed Apr 11 2007 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)

Minister in the dark over truancy policing

Wednesday, 11 April 2007, 9:55 am
Press Release: New Zealand National Party

Katherine Rich
National Party Education Spokeswoman

11 April 2007

It's no wonder New Zealand's school truancy rate has increased 41% since 2002, when the Education Minister doesn't even know how many truancy officers are in the field, says National Party Education spokeswoman Katherine Rich.

"The Minister was asked a simple parliamentary question 'ow many How many frontline truancy officers are working in New Zealand, and where are they based?'"

"It is appalling that an Education Minister could just shrug his shoulders and claim the Ministry did not collect such information.

"When truancy has risen at such a frightening rate under Labour, it's a worry that the Minister has absolutely no idea how many truancy officers are out there combating the problem, says Mrs Rich.

"Steve Maharey should be ashamed of the figures. The truancy rate rose from 2.9% of students in 2002, to 3.4 percent in 2004 and last year peaked at a whopping 4.1 percent.

"In light of such a damning track record, most kiwis would expect the Minister to have some idea how many officers are chasing down the more than 30,000 students wagging school each week."

ENDS

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