One in 10 pupils in west Tallaght, Co Dublin, may be missing school regularly and a small number do not attend at all, according to a local campaign set up to tackle the problem. The campaign is made up of principals from nine schools who are working with local gardai to raise the attendance levels. They began their campaign yesterday by announcing that posters, created by local schoolchildren, would be placed on bus shelters around Tallaght encouraging children to attend school.
Another element of the West Tallaght School Attendance Campaign will involve gardai being given the names of pupils who persistently fail to turn up for school. Gardai will visit the parents, issue them with a warning notice and if the problem persists, initiate a prosecution.
Mr Ronan Connolly, principal of Jobstown Community College, said up to 10 per cent of pupils in the area were regularly not attending school. Parents were often not aware their children were not attending, he said. While programmes such as the Leaving Certificate Applied helped retain pupils in the system, the "derisory" level of fines for non-attendance (often as low as £2) did little to encourage parents to ensure their children attended school.
Ms Miriam Fitzsimons, who works for the Department of Education in the area, said it suffered from "alarming" rates of non-attendance. It was a "complex" problem which needed to be dealt with by school committees made up of teachers, principals and other interested parties.
Garda Insp Patrick Edgeworth of Tallaght station said children who missed school were at risk of linking up with "fringe elements" involved in anti-social behaviour.
Mr Seamus Massey, principal of St Thomas's Junior School in Jobstown, said some families "do not value education". While most pupils had good attendance records, there was a "hard core group" who were determined not to attend. Parents should get involved in school activities to make them feel a part of the education experience, he said.