Absence from school will spell trouble for young people for “decades to come,” a senior MP has warned.
Education Select Committee chair Robert Halfon said more than 100,000 “ghost children” have not returned to school since the coronavirus pandemic began.
In March, the committee warned of an “epidemic” of inequality, exacerbated by the learning loss due to Covid.
The government has passed a new school law aimed at increasing school attendance.
Mr Halfon, the Conservative MP for Harlow in Essex, told BBC Politics East: “I describe them as the four horsemen of the education apocalypse galloping towards young people – lost educational qualifications, damage to their mental health, damage to their protection and loss of life chances.
“This will not only accompany us for a few weeks or months, but possibly for the coming decades.”
Figures for the east of England show that 200,803 pupils were permanently absent [10% of the time]while 11,313 were severely absent [off 50% of the time].
The latest nationwide figures show school attendance was 80.8% on July 21, compared to 92.2% in March.
However, some parents argue that school is not always where children are brought up, while others say more help is needed to support students’ individual needs.
Anna Allen, from Essex, said her son suffered from mental health problems at school and she had concerns about the bill.
“It’s this focus on crime and punishment rather than raising children. Kids will do well if they can,” she said.
“It’s not that the kids aren’t going to school, it’s that for whatever reason they can’t, and the reasons need to be investigated.”
Amanda Rolph, from Norfolk, told the BBC she decided to homeschool her son after he struggled at school.
“It became clear that he was not well. At night he was very anxious. He always asked: ‘Is there school tomorrow?’ He could never relax, not even on weekends,” she said.
Square Peg parent group director Ellie Costello said she’s concerned schools are ignoring valid mental health reasons why children can’t go to school and punishing parents too quickly.
She said some parents have children who are occasionally unable to go to school, while others have children who are home educated.
Square Peg, in its submission to the government on the Schools Act, said: “Criminal sanctions such as fines and threats of imprisonment have no place in the state’s duty to provide education.”
A government blog on the bill said: “We are introducing legislation to enact new statutory guidance on attendance, including requiring every school to publish a clear attendance policy to improve support.”
You can see more of this story on Sunday 9 October at 10am BST on Politics East on BBC One, although it is also available on BBC iPlayer thereafter.
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