COVID-19 is a “major factor” why school attendance in Ireland has dropped so low, a school principal has said. 

New data from Tusla has revealed that over 110,000 primary school kids and over 65,000 secondary school kids, were out of class for more than 20 days during the 2022-23 school year. 

Education Minister Helen McEntee described the figures as “hugely alarming” and vowed to introduce new measures to tackle the issue.

On Lunchtime Live, Principal Simon Lewis said there is “never one reason” for anything but that the pandemic had changed parents’ attitude to school attendance. 

“Before COVID came along we would have had on - as would most schools - an average of about 95% attendance,” he said. 

“During COVID that obviously was way, way, way down and when we started returning to schools, the advice for parents was to keep your child off school no matter what, if they were sniffling or anything.

“As we’ve moved away from that a little bit, attendance is still very, very low. 

“We’re scoring around between 90, 92% - which is quite significant.” 

Holidays

Mr Lewis added that many parents think it is acceptable to take a child away on holiday during term time, recalling a conversation he had with one family he met recently. 

“They sort of had this idea that you’re allowed, it’s almost a target to reach 20-days and then after that you’ll get into trouble,” Mr Lewis said. 

“I just thought, ‘Gosh.’ 

“This is just a family I met in a queue and I thought maybe that is in the psyche of Irish parents.

“It was just something I was surprised to hear.” 

A group of school children in school uniforms. Image: NorthScape / Alamy Stock Photo

Mr Lewis also noted that teachers used to get more support when pupils started to miss school. 

“I think this is where the Government probably can take the blame on this,” he said. 

“During the recession, we had these people called Educational Welfare Officers (EWOs). 

“Their job is to check if children are in school and I remember 10, 15-years ago when I had a child missing 20-days in school or more, I would give her a call and she would contact the family immediately. 

“These days, that just doesn’t happen.”

Main image: Children in school uniform. Picture by: PjrTravel / Alamy.com.