Longford children missing a ‘concerning’ number of school days

Longford children are missing a “concerning” number of school days, a child agency has said.

Tusla’s Annual Annual Attendance Report for 2023/24 revealed that on average, Longford primary school children missed 7.4% of the total school days in the year.

Meanwhile, at secondary school level, students from across the county missed an average of 19.2% of the total school days in the year.

18% of students in primary school missed 20 days or more in the 2023/24 school year, while that figure stood at 31.7% for secondary school students.

Nationally, the data shows that the number of days lost by students at primary level has decreased from 8,689,829 in the 2021/22 school year to 6,247,325 in the 2023/24 school year.

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This represents 8% of the total school days in the 2023/24 school year. 8.6% of total days were lost in the 2022/23 school year.

At post-primary school level, the total number of days lost has risen for the second consecutive year to 6,029,243 from 5,569,447 in the 2022/23 school year, but this increase is largely accounted for by the increase of 24,000 students in the total post-primary student population.

The total days lost in the 2023/24 school year represents 11.3% of total school days. 11.4% of total days were lost in the 2022/23 school year.

In response to these figures, the Tusla Education Support Service (TESS), in partnership with Minister for Education and Youth Helen McEntee, has launched a nationwide multimedia campaign to promote regular school attendance in all counties across Ireland.

The new multi-platform campaign, including TV, radio and cinemas, seeks to help address absenteeism by encouraging everyone involved in the lives of children and young people – including parents, guardians, teachers, and communities – to support and prioritise regular school attendance.