Playing truant seems to be the norm for nearly 30% of students from Western Australian Public Schools, according to a recent report, raising concern about its negative impact on their education.
The report made by Auditor General Colin Murphy found that 50% of 10th standard students are absent from school on a regular basis.
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It is also apparent that the education department did precious little to improve attendance for such chronic absenteeism. Though the total attendance for public schools was 91%, nearly 49,000 children in years 1 to 10 were found to be absent frequently. Further, a steep fall in attendance was observed as students moved to secondary school - only 53% were going to school regularly.
Responding to the report with great concern Education Minister Liz Constable said, "This is a problem for everyone - parents, schools, the Department, myself as Minister and the community. Unless parents send children to school, we can not teach them. So this is a partnership that we really must start building on far more, and that's why today we are releasing a paper for consultation with the community for three months. I would hope that by the beginning of the next school year that we will have new strategies in place to deal with this very vexing problem."
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Education is imperative in imparting knowledge, life and career skills to children. Improving the attendance levels should not be the onus of parents alone , instead it must be a collective effort of families, schools, the Education department, other agencies and local communities.
Source: Medindia
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Education is imperative in imparting knowledge, life and career skills to children. Improving the attendance levels should not be the onus of parents alone , instead it must be a collective effort of families, schools, the Education department, other agencies and local communities.
Source: Medindia
SAV
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