Aim to boost regular attendance by 2030.
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has welcomed students back to school, emphasizing the importance of regular attendance in setting them up for a bright future. The Government aims to raise each school term's attendance rates higher than the same periods in 2024 and reach its target of 80 per cent of students attending more than 90 per cent of the time by 2030.
According to 2024 data, only 61.7 per cent of students attended regularly in Term 1, while Term 2 and Term 3 saw attendance rates drop to 53.2 per cent and 51.3 per cent respectively. The Ministry of Education will soon publish daily attendance data on a new interactive dashboard, allowing for quicker responses to low attendance.
The Minister notes that the shift to daily reporting will provide greater insights into patterns in attendance, including the fact that Fridays often have lower attendance rates than other days. He encourages parents to consider the long-term impact of letting students skip school and urges everyone to support schools in their efforts to improve attendance. If left unaddressed, the truancy crisis could lead to a 80-year-long shadow of people who missed out on education when they were young.