Taking a holistic approach to schooling was the only way to tackle the absenteeism problem, education authorities believe.

Journalists were given a briefing yesterday following reports in Times of Malta earlier this week that short-term truancy for secondary school students had reached a new high, with over 300 more pupils missing school in the first half of this scholastic year than throughout the whole of 2016.

During the briefing, service manager for education psycho-social services Sandra Cortis acknowledged truancy problems still exist but pointed out that there were a number of factors contributing to this phenomenon.

She insisted that a number of measures had been introduced in recent years to address absenteeism, adding that it was crucial that it be tackled holistically.

Some parents, I’m afraid to say, still don’t understand the importance of sending their children to school

This meant that while offering children and their families the social support they needed, she said, the curriculum offered should also be one that enticed students to attend school.

Poverty was also a contributing factor, Ms Cortis said, explaining that there had been cases where parents could not provide a clean uniform or a packed lunch but were embarrassed to admit that this was the case.

“Some parents, I’m afraid to say, still don’t understand the importance of sending their children to school. Others, however, may be in a situation where they cannot provide everything for their children and have a sense of pride.

“So they would rather not send the children to school. And working with such parents takes a lot of effort; social workers have a tough job in such cases,” Ms Cortis said.

She added that it was also relevant to note that efforts to cut down absenteeism among primary school students seemed to have started to bear fruit, as figures have fallen.

“It’s important that those that are still young learn that this is not fine and that they cannot not attend school,” Ms Cortis said.

In total, 8,944 students were absent for stretches of time without authorisation. There are currently 11,061 students at the secondary level.

The figures for the 14,917 students at the primary level showed a different trend, and so far, truancy among younger students had not increased.