Truant children are far more likely to commit crime than those who stayed in class, according to a new strategy document which seeks to tackle criminality at the root.

The government’s new Crime Prevention strategy document reveals that around one in every three crimes committed by underage people occurred on weekdays and during school hours.

In fact, youths were nearly twice as likely to commit a crime when they were meant to be in class as they were during the weekend.

This, the document says, highlights the need for specialised crime prevention efforts in schools.

The document says the government should set up a strategy group to develop programmes for youths, targeting potential problem youths and their needs.

Strategy group needed to develop programmes targeting potential problem youths

The document even goes as far as to identify particular problem areas, saying Birżebbuġa, St Paul’s Bay and Floriana required “immediate attention”, before the country as a whole was addressed.

Official figures show that last year, 346 youths under the age of 18 were arraigned in court over alleged offences.

And, while the government document may be a first in linking underage crime to absenteeism in terms of national policy, the phenomenon will hardly come as news to experts. The Times of Malta has long been reporting educational professionals’ concerns over the problem of truancy.

At the start of this year, educators had flagged concerns as news broke that truancy among secondary school students had reached a new high.

Official figures showed that over 300 more pupils missed school in the first half of this scholastic year than throughout the whole of last year.

In total, a staggering 8,944 students were absent for stretches of time without authorisation, which is some 80 per cent of the 11,061 students at secondary level.

Despite stepped-up efforts from the government in recent years to curb absenteeism, figures tabled in Parliament showed that more students were absent this scholastic year for stretches of up to 10 days by February, with 7,679 pupils being absent without authorisation.

According to the strategy document, areas of focus should include anger management and behaviour modification.

It says youths are not a homogenous group and so a comprehensive policy should be complemented with tailor-made approach.

One such solution would be the setting up of a therapeutic unit for youths, particularly those who lack a stable family environment and are proving difficult for educators to handle.