'Ghost children' attending school as fears grow around missing education

By Grace Piercy, News Reporter

School absenteeism has grown since the pandemic (Image: Getty)

The number of “ghost children” have skyrocketed since the pandemic, with thousands missing out on school.

Ministers are under pressure to get children back to their classrooms due to the “massive challenge” of chronic absenteeism.

One pupil for every secondary school classroom is missing most of their education, with one in 12 pupils absent more often than not in parts of the country.

A rise in mental health problems and a culture of staying at home during lockdowns are thought to be among the reasons that the number of children who are absent more than half of the time has reached 157,000, triple what it was before the pandemic.

Cristina Odone, of the Centre for Social Justice, said the figures showed “a collective sense of parents colluding with their children after the pandemic. They recognise it is difficult to make their children go to school, and they just stop trying.”

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan (Image: Getty)

A poll by the think tank found almost one in three parents believe the pandemic showed it is not essential for children to attend school every day. 

“There’s a really big gulf between families and schools, parents and teachers, and the government is falling into it,” Odone told the Times. “We need to remind parents that this is important. They need to have children that are not isolated.”

The problem is worst among older children and official figures show that in the summer term last year, 3.9 percent of secondary school pupils had an attendance rate of less than 50 percent, more than double the level before the pandemic.

It is also an issue among vulnerable children, with one in ten secondary pupils in care missing most of their schooling, triple the rate of five years ago.

The rates vary significantly across the country. In Cumbria, severe absence rates (missing more than 50 percent of school) averaged 8.4 percent last summer, whereas several boroughs in London recorded a rate of under 2 percent.

A government source told the Times that “post-pandemic absence is a massive challenge globally”, insisting that Education Secretary Gillian Keegan “has made improving attendance a top priority”.

Ministers say data on absenteeism is being used to focus efforts on the most problematic areas. On average, pupils in England were in school for nearly eight days more than those in Wales, and four days more than pupils in Scotland.

“These stark results show our plan is working — supported by the most comprehensive attendance data anywhere in the world — helping schools and local authorities provide support where it is most needed,” the source said.