PUPILS from schools in West Belfast have the highest pupil absence rate in the North, according to latest figures.
For three consecutive years, West Belfast had the highest absence rate, including a high of 12 per cent in 2021/22. The figure translates that on average pupils in West Belfast are absent from school an average of one day in every eight.
The area also had the highest rates of absence in 2019/20 (7.8 per cent) and 2020/21 (7.9 per cent).
West Belfast was also the only constituency to see a rise in absenteeism during Covid school closures.
North and East Belfast also saw an absentee rate of more than 10 per cent in 2021/22, with South Belfast the only part of the city to fall below 10 per cent level. Across the North, the absentee rate rose from 6.5 per cent of schools days in 2019/20 to 9.6 per cent in 2021/22. Foyle was the only other area to register an absence rate higher than 10 per cent in 2021/22, as the number of pupils not attending school rose in every constituency.
The figures were revealed by Education Minister Paul Givan after a written Assembly question from SDLP MLA Daniel McCrossan.
West Belfast Sinn Féin MLA Pat Sheehan, who is also Deputy Chair of the Education Committee at Stormont, blamed the high absenteeism rates on the pandemic and Tory cuts.
"The high rates of school absenteeism are concerning and are in my view, a legacy of the pandemic," he said. "During the pandemic, experts, including the Mental Health Champion, believed that our children and young people would experience a ‘tsunami’ of mental health issues in the aftermath of Covid.
"From that point on, I worked with others to call for a proper mental health and well-being plan for schools to support these children to bounce back.
“Unfortunately, this didn't happen on the scale that it should have, and subsequent savage Tory cuts have impacted our most vulnerable children.
"The Department of Education, Health and Communities must now work together to provide our young people with the support they need to get them back in front of their desks and learning consistently again.”
The Department of Education said pupil absence rates are an ongoing challenge.
A spokesperson said: “A range of support is available to children and young people and their parents.
“The Department is continuing to provide support for schools and families through funding such as £75m for targeting social needs, £8.1m for extended schools, £5.6m for the emotional health and wellbeing in education framework, and an array of other support programmes.
"Northern Ireland has seen a 13.5 per cent point improvement in regular attendance since 2021/22, which forms a good basis to make further progress.”
