A new low for school attendance

The Term 2 attendance figures are truly dismal and Term 2 was after we left the Covid protection framework, so the old excuses of blaming it all on Covid-19 doesn’t wash.

• The number of students attending school less than 70% of the time has gone from 20,620 in 2011 to 101,559 in 2022 – a 400% increase. We have 100,000 kids who attended less than 7 in 10 days. As a percentage has gone from 4.8% to 13.8%.
• The number of students attending school less than 90% of the time has gone from 31% in 2011 to 60% in 2022.
• In 2017 63% of kids attended 90% or more of the time and today it is just 40%.
• The proportion of kids absent without justification (truant) on an average day has increased 40% from 2017 to 2022
• Only 27% of Maori kids attending school more than 90% of the time, and 24% attended less than 70% so almost as many are attending under 70% as are attending regularly. And we wonder why we have disparities later on in life.