05 November 2004
Truancy from schools in Northern Ireland is running at around twice the level for England, worsened by a shortage of educational welfare officers, the Northern Ireland Audit Office said this week.
An 'alarming' 5.6% of secondary school pupils could be considered as persistent non-attenders, a proportion that has risen steadily over the past three years, the NIAO said.
Its report, Improving pupil attendance at school, published on November 4, warned: 'Non-attendance can be costly, not just in monetary terms but also in terms of the time that teachers may have to spend implementing procedures to encourage good attendance.'
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