Truants risk little chance of prosecution

new-zealand-national-party

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

Truants risk little chance of prosecution

Thursday, 12 April 2007, 9:52 am
Press Release: New Zealand National Party

Katherine Rich MP
National Party Education Spokeswoman

12 April 2007

“About 30,000 students are wagging school each week but fewer than 35 parents were prosecuted for breaching the Education Act during all of 2006, according to National’s Education spokeswoman, Katherine Rich.

“With New Zealand’s truancy rate rocketing up by 41% since 2002, it’s appalling that truancy appears to be nowhere on the Education Minister’s agenda.

“There are now 9000 more students wagging school every week than there were four years ago. That’s a lot of irretrievable opportunities and gaps in students’ learning.

“Some of the serious truants have parents who condone their children’s long absences and make no effort to get them to school.

“It’s easy to see why some parents thumb their noses at principals and truancy officers – they have more chance of being run over by a bus than being prosecuted for taking no interest in their children’s education.

“The approach to truancy has to be multi-pronged, but part of the strategy has to be targeting a group of parents who make no effort to get their children to school.

“Under the Education Act, parents can also be issued with fines: $150 if their child is absent without cause and this can be increased to $450 if the student is a serious offender.

“Schools tell me this is not widely used, but even though the numbers are small Courts Minister Rick Barker refuses to say how many times parents have been issued with such fines.

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“He’s also not 100% sure on the exact number of prosecutions. He says there were 35 prosecutions for breaching the Education Act last year, but notes some of these might have been for infringements other than truancy, like running an unregistered school or intimidating a teacher.

“When the Ministers of Education and Courts don’t know the basics like how many truancy officers there are and how many prosecutions or fines there have been, it is no surprise that the Government is floundering in the face of rocketing truancy.”

ENDS

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