New Zealand National Party Leader Christopher Luxon said COVID-19 was no longer a sufficient reason to explain the country’s truancy crisis.
The comments come after the Ministry of Education released its latest attendance indicator report, which found that only 40 percent of students regularly attended school during term two (pdf). This is a fall of six percentage points from term one.
Regular attendance is defined as an attendance rate of over 90 percent, where a minimum of four hours is counted as one day present.
This decrease in attendance was seen across the board, regardless of year level, ethnic group, and socio-economic background….