1 IN 3 PUPILS SKIP SCHOOL
Lack of mental health support is blamed for shock absence rates
ONE in three Scots pupils was “persistently absent” from school last year.
New truancy figures showed 32 per cent of pupils were absent for an average of at least one day a fortnight.
The Scottish Government has admitted the figures are “not acceptable” and claimed school absence was now a “post-Covid challenge”.
Opposition politicians and charity workers, however, blame the government’s failure to provide mental health support for children as a key factor.
As well as the fall in attendance, the figures also show an increase in exclusions – up 40 per cent in two years.
Lib Dem education spokesman Willie Rennie said the absence rates “are a sign of young people who are disengaged, stressed and distracted”.
He added: “The shocking waits to get mental health support combined with the inadequate additional support for learning and also the high rates of unacceptable behaviour and violence are some of the reasons for so many young people just not turning up for school.”
Kirsty Solman of the charity Stand with Kyle Now – which helps parents access child and adolescent mental health services – said: “Mental health and education go hand in hand.
“It is not a coincidence that the number of children that are being referred to CAMHS (Children and Adolescent Mental Heath Services) for an increase in depression and anxiety has risen significantly and so has the number of children that are persistently absent from school.”
Kirsty’s organisation is drawing up a petition calling for a CAMHS worker to be placed in every secondary school and to work with feeder primaries to identify children who need help much earlier. She said: “The earlier they catch these children, the easier it is to get them treated and get back into school but they would rather put plasters on when the damage is already done and the plaster is not going to help.”
The charity is holding a protest at the Scottish Parliament tomorrow calling for a complete reform of children’s mental health services.
Kirsty added: “CAMHS has not been looked at in so long, they are out of date and no longer work.”
Education Secretary Jenny Gilruth admitted the absence rates were “not acceptable”.
Gilruth added that the absence problem is “among the post-pandemic challenges facing schools internationally and Scotland is not immune from that”.
She said: “I am absolutely clear there must be a renewed drive across all levels of governments and agencies to address this as a priority.”