A staggering 10,072 lawsuits have been instituted by the education authorities since 2009 against parents who did not send their children to school, figures given in parliament show.

The data, given by Education Minister Evarist Bartolo in reply to a question by Labour MP Etienne Grech, highlights the discrepancy between state, private and independent schools.

Just 18 cases were instituted against parents of children in state schools and 106 against those having children in church schools. The rest were against parents who send their children to government schools. The biggest number of arraignments, 1,760, was in 2010/2011.

Court action against parents has also been hitting the headlines abroad. In the UK today, a court was told that taking a child to Florida for seven consecutive days during term time without a school's permission cannot be viewed as lawful.

The submission was made as Isle of Wight Council, backed by the Education Secretary, launched a landmark legal battle over term-time holidays in the highest court in the land.

In a case being watched by schools and parents all over the country, the local education authority is seeking to overturn a High Court ruling in May last year which had cleared a father, Jon Platt, 46, of failing to ensure his daughter's regular attendance at school.

Mr Platt won the case after taking his child on a seven-day trip to Disney World in Florida in April 2015.

The High Court, sitting in London, had declared that Mr Platt was not acting unlawfully because his daughter had a good attendance record during the rest of the year of over 90%.

The decision caused a surge in term-time bookings all over England.
 
Families complain that trips in official holiday periods are up to four times more expensive, and UK local councils have reported that the number of breaks in term time is increasing. 

In a similar case in September, another UK couple who refused to pay a £120 (€142) fine for brining their son to Malta on holiday during term time were also vindicated by a UK court.

Richard and Tania Davey were each hit with a fine of £60 after their son missed five days of school due to the holiday.

They refused to cough up, and won the case after magistrates in Swindon found the couple would not be breaking the law if their son's attendance over the scholastic year was sufficiently regular.