{"id":7958,"date":"2025-01-29T15:43:31","date_gmt":"2025-01-29T14:43:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/?post_type=article&p=7958"},"modified":"2025-01-29T15:45:38","modified_gmt":"2025-01-29T14:45:38","slug":"zieda-fil-multi-mhux-bizzejjed-biex-tikkontrolla-l-assenteizmu-fl-iskejjel","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/article\/zieda-fil-multi-mhux-bizzejjed-biex-tikkontrolla-l-assenteizmu-fl-iskejjel\/","title":{"rendered":"Increase in fines fails to curb school truancy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Despite a significant increase in fines and sanctions, school truancy remains a persistent issue, showing no signs of decline. Statistics presented in Parliament reveal that during the last two scholastic years, truancy cases exceeded 1,100 compared to the 2021\/22 academic year. Ironically, the introduction of higher fines in March 2022 coincided with a sharp rise in absenteeism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amendments to the Education Act in 2022 stipulated stricter penalties for parents who fail to ensure their children attend school regularly without valid reasons. Under these amendments, parents are liable to a fine of up to \u20ac100 for each day the offence continues. In more serious cases, parents convicted by the Commissioner for Justice may face fines ranging from \u20ac100 to \u20ac500, imprisonment for up to three months, or both.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This issue was recently highlighted in Parliament by Opposition MP Graziella Attard Previ, who requested a breakdown of truancy cases across all levels of compulsory education for the past three scholastic years, across government schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Truancy Statistics by Level<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Truancy is notably more prevalent in secondary schools, where cases are roughly double those in primary schools. In the 2023\/24 academic year, there were 1,159 recorded cases, including 698 at the secondary level. This marks a significant increase from 2021\/22, which saw 756 cases (483 at secondary level). However, it is slightly lower than 2022\/23, which recorded 1,301 cases overall, including 819 at secondary level and 482 at primary level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Primary School Truancy Hotspots<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the 2023\/24 scholastic year, the highest number of primary school absenteeism cases was reported in Birkirkara (41), followed by St. Venera (31), \u017bebbu\u0121 (26), Mellie\u0127a (25), and Paola (23). Over a three-year period, Paola recorded the highest total cases (99), followed by Birkirkara (80), Sliema (74), and Mellie\u0127a (65).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Secondary School Truancy Trends<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the secondary level, truancy rates were higher. Verdala Secondary School recorded the most cases in 2023\/24 (100), followed by \u0126amrun Secondary (62), Mrie\u0127el (61), \u0126andaq (50), and Cospicua Middle School (50). Over the past three years, \u0126amrun Secondary topped the list with 260 cases, followed by Verdala (244), Mrie\u0127el (181), \u0126andaq (135), and Cospicua Middle School (114).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is important to note that schools with larger populations may report higher numbers of truancy cases, which could skew the statistics. Addressing truancy effectively will likely require more than just punitive measures, with attention needed to underlying causes such as family challenges, social issues, or mental health concerns.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Despite a significant increase in fines and sanctions, school truancy remains a persistent issue, showing no signs of decline. Statistics presented in Parliament reveal that during the last two scholastic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":7955,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"spay_email":""},"issuem_issue":[410],"issuem_issue_categories":[9],"issuem_issue_tags":[],"translation":{"provider":"WPGlobus","version":"2.8.8","language":"en","enabled_languages":["mt","en"],"languages":{"mt":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"en":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/7958"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/article"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7958"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/7958\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7961,"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/7958\/revisions\/7961"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"issuem_issue","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issuem_issue?post=7958"},{"taxonomy":"issuem_issue_categories","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issuem_issue_categories?post=7958"},{"taxonomy":"issuem_issue_tags","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issuem_issue_tags?post=7958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}