Primary truant rate for study

Press, 15 February 1986, Page 1

Primary truant rate for study

The Canterbury Education Board will investigate truancy in primary schools this year. The board has appointed Ms Patricia Berwick-Emms to survey truancy, and advise on the best way to deal with it. In a report on the proposed survey, the board’s general manager, Mr Keith McNeil, said it had often considered how -to deal with the problem. Two meetings last year involving visiting teachers, psychologists, the police, and public health nurses had confirmed that many different groups were worried about the extent of truancy, he said. The police particularly were worried by the growth of truancy and its possible relationship to increases in shoplifting and glue-sniffing. The survey will take at least two terms to complete, and may possibly take all year.