Truancy at school sets pattern for absence at work

A collective, informal decision taken 25 years ago allows students to miss three days from school every month without requiring them to present a medical certificate.

It appears that students have so gotten used to such a system that it is carried forward to when they start working – the system has been identified by GPs.

According to the Principal Social Worker at the student services department, Marija Zahra, GPs have admitted noticing this trend.

“The ‘three-day off’ from school is linked to the three days off from work, several GPs have argued at meetings we are holding as a department to address truancy,” Zahra said.

The goal of such meetings is to have family doctors advise parents to seek help from the department when there are problems or issues forcing parents not to send their children to school.

“Parents should value education and should not be afraid of seeking help. School is also about socialisation, helping children to form their character,” she said.

While it is a child’s right to receive education and the parents’ legal obligation to observe it, the rate of truancy in Malta remains high, especially at secondary level.

Over the past four years, 1,399 parents were accused of not sending their children to school.

The problem, however, does not stop there. While the law allows regional tribunals to deal out a €7 fine followed by an additional €2.33 for every other failed attendance, fines collection has never been enforced.

The final result is that the government has yet to collect over €1.4 million in fines from parents who not only ignore requests to appear before a tribunal but who also ignore the fines issued against them.

235 primary students absent from school for 31 days and more

A total of 13,748 students should be attending public school at primary level but 235 of them each missed school for 31 days and more.

The highest rate of truancy was registered at San Gorg College (3%), followed by St Margaret College (2.5%) and Maria Regina College (2.3%). Only two cases of truancy were registered in Gozo.

In the case of secondary school students, San Gorg College (12.7%) and St Margaret College (7%) once again topped the list, followed by St Benedict College (10%).

The figures provided by the Ministry for Education for the past scholastic year show that the highest rate of absenteeism – students who go over their monthly three-day limit on absences without a medical note – is among students who attend secondary school.

907 students (7.7%) attending secondary level at public schools went over their monthly three-day allowance while the rate at primary level stood at a much lower 235 students.

The difference in absenteeism is the result of the Student Services Department’s efforts to focus on truancy at primary level.

At secondary level, the department is focusing more on providing students with alternative learning programmes. These programmes are seeing students successfully complete courses in vocational subjects when they would usually fail miserably in academic subjects.

Education Ministry to act

Zahra and her team focus on those students who do not regularly attend school and provide support to their families. Experience has taught social workers that parents do not send their children to school for four main reasons: individual  reasons that may include a child suffering from mental health problems or physical problems; parents who are facing social or financial problems; children who have problems at school and ethnic minorities who find it extremely hard to fit in.

Zahra and her team’s job is to make contact with the parents and get to the root of the problem. Methods of contacting the parents or guardian vary from phone calls, to sending registered letters and surprise home visits. Police assistance is requested when parents repeatedly fail to make contact.

Admittedly, it is harder to be effective if no enforcement is in place. As Zahra explained, only 10% of the parents cited appear before the regional tribunal and the majority of parents even ignore the fines issued against them.

“The Ministry for Education is now working on it to ensure that proper enforcement of existing law is carried out,” Zahra said.

A spokesman for the ministry confirmed that a number of policies are set to be unveiled in the coming months, with the target being child truancy.

During a public meeting last week, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat hinted that ‘three days off’ from school may be removed.