Parents who repeatedly ignored child truancy fines would no longer be allowed to avoid criminal proceedings, Education Minister Evarist Bartolo told Times of Malta.

Mr Bartolo said parents were openly ignoring penalties but did not face the consequences of their actions due to lack of enforcement of legal provisions.

“We have had cases of parents taunting heads of schools saying: ‘fine me as much as you like; I won’t pay’. We won’t accept this. New measures will ensure that all parents who ignore fines are dealt with by the courts,” he said.

According to law, parents of truant children can be fined as much as €2.33 for each day a child misses school without a valid reason. Not paying the fines is considered to be a criminal offence by the Education Act.

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