May 11, 2022
Truancy tidal wave needs wide response
The president of Te Tai Tokerau Principals Association says as many as 5000 children have gone missing from the school system in the north.
Pat Newman from Hora Hora School says a major all-out community response is needed to get them back.
He says there is a range of factors, including economic hardship, disinformation about Covid-19 vaccines, and the fact many parents have low regard for education because of their own negative experiences of schooling in the past.
“So it’s not a simple answer and a hell of a lot of it is about rebuilding trust and rebuilding relationships and that’s where everybody had to take apart from the families themselves, government agencies, iwi, the whole lot need to say this is a major problem for our kids and the only way around it is to look at how we can help,” Mr Newman says.
He’s like to see social media and television campaigns like those used for smoking and drink driving to get the kids back to school.