Something is going badly wrong with our schools. Thousands of so-called “ghost children” are missing from class and the number is rising at an alarming rate.
A new report from the Centre for Social Justice reveals a 50 per cent jump in the number of pupils severely absent — out of class more than in — in less than two years.
That’s 140,000 pupils, 1-in-50 children, mostly skipping lessons. More than a quarter of children, nearly 2 million, are absent for more than 10 per cent of the time.
A profound change seems to have taken place in these two years. The social contract between families and schools, that children must attend every day unless there is a very good reason, has broken.
