SCHOOL ATTENDANCE IN NEW ZEALAND MUST IMPROVE.

24 February 2020

In New Zealand, The attendance records of students in school is decreasing. Kiwi Kids news says that 58% of kiwi students now go regularly to school, while it was 68% in 2018. 

I think that it is important to go to school because you need to learn skills for your future life. Apparently, some of the absences are actually because of illness, but there seems to be a jump in the data on Mondays, Fridays and at the end of the school term. 

According to the data, most of the absences are from poorer communities, and Maori and Pacific students.  And for the first time the Maori attendance had dropped to just 50% in 2018 from 53.5% in 2013. The Associate Education Minister, Tracey Martin stated that: “Education really matters and we all have to take attendance seriously. “Going to school is what sets our young people up for life.”

The New Zealand Herald says that principals are blaming all the cheap air fares in the school term for the drop in children attending school. They say that parents are extending their holidays and children are taking more time off school. James Morris, who is principal of rural Darfield High School in Canterbury, said more parents were taking their children out of school for holidays during term time.”At our school there are more parents taking students away during term time because flights are cheaper at those times, and flights are cheaper than they used to be,” he said.

In conclusion, I think that it is really bad that only 58% of children are going to school at some times.  Children need to be educated because life is pretty much useless without it so they can get a decent, good paying job. So, If your parents see cheap air fares, say to them, “school is more important”. 

Wait till the end of the term!

ZAK – YEAR 7