As absenteeism figures reach a new high, educators are facing another problem, which they refer to as “truancy in mind”, where students as young as 11 stay in school but stop acquiring skills.
According to Carmel Borg, the chair of the National Observatory for Living with Dignity, apart from those students who for some reason resort to absenteeism, there is also a number of pupils who are “truants in mind”.
“These students remain within the system; they might be absent from time to time, but they are there and are not picked up by official statistics on absenteeism.
“But the reality is that while they are physically in the class, they have given up at a very early age, and so they gain no more skills,” Prof. Borg said.
While they are physically in the class, they have given up at a very early age
He was speaking to The Sunday Times of Malta in the wake of the publication of a report by the Observatory which analysed early school leaving and its link to well-being. The Observatory is a research entity within the President’s Foundation for the Wellbeing of Society.
The study found students coming from families where education was given little to no importance and where they suffered material deprivation were more likely to resort to absenteeism or early school leaving.
“When students come from a family that is materially deprived on a number of levels and then they go to school and feel neglected by the system, by the time these students get to secondary school, they just throw in the towel,” Prof. Borg believes.
Data issued recently show that absenteeism is on the rise, especially among secondary school students.
Prof. Borg insisted that it was crucial to address problems in school from an early age, adding that efforts to change such trends needed to start very early.
Recently, as part of studies to identify what was causing such behaviour among students, the Observatory also analysed the correlation between early school leaving and well-being.
It concluded that early school leavers – those from 18 to 28 who finished compulsory education and entered the workforce immediately – were taking up low-skilled jobs and staying in those jobs for the rest of their lives.
“Malta’s economy is absorbing youths who are leaving school early with a weak skills set and who have no interest in furthering their education or training.
“The study showed that such students are caught in this spiral and they will stay there for the rest of their lives,” Prof. Borg explained.
The Observatory is now holding in-depth, one-to-one interviews with early school leavers aged between 18 and 24 in an attempt to gain a better insight into the driving force that leads them on this path.
“Every single student that leaves school at an early age negatively impacts society, and that is why the figures in recent years have been so alarming,” Prof. Borg said.
claire.caruana@timesofmalta.com