Truancy   in   England

Truancy, that is students skipping classes without a valid reason, has become

a serious problem in England. Every week more than 233.000 pupils play truant, that

is 20% of the whole British school population.

Manchester and Hull are the cities with the worst levels of truancy. A lot of parents

end in prison because they aren’t able to stop their children from playing truant.

Students bunk off for several reasons: some teens find the lessons too hard to follow, so they lose interest in the subject, others find the lessons are too easy or boring and they are fed up. Some students play truant because they are frightened of bullies or even of teachers! Or simply because truancy, a forbidden thing, is so exciting!

Skipping school is a serious affair for students, who may not get qualifications and get in trouble with the police.

The British Government, parents and teachers all are trying to find solutions to the problem. Parents are required to make sure their children are at school, or they will have to pay a fine, or even be jailed if the truants keep on going with their bad behaviour. Teachers are asked to prepare more interesting and challenging lessons for their pupils.

We think that in Italy truancy is not such a big problem. Italian students skip lessons less often than pupils in Great Britain.

The Italian Government has not a particular policy against truancy because this is not as frequent as in England. It is more a matter of families and teachers: they try to stop truancy giving bad remarks to those pupils who play truant and they inform their parents.

In our experience very few school mates bunk off and, if it happens, it is a rare occurence.

By Giovanna Capudi and Camilla Brollo