Each student from Cospicua missed an average of 23.7 days of school a year, the highest average number of absences per student in each locality, statistics show.

The National Statistics Office found that the average number of absent days per student has been in decline since 2012. In fact, students missed an average of 11.5 days during the academic year 2016/2017 compared to an average of 15.4 days during 2012/2013.

Unauthorised absences also registered a decline of 26.6% - from 275,262 days during the academic year 2012/2013 to 202,101 days during the 2016/2017 scholastic year.

Meanwhile, total absences by students in primary and secondary schools decreased by 25.1%, with students missing 531,730 days during the 2016/2017 scholastic year compared to 710,161 days during the 2012/2013.

Around 57% of students in pre-primary, primary and secondary school are enrolled in a state schools. This was followed by Church schools with 29.2% while students enrolled in private schools accounted for the remaining 13.2%.

From 2012 to 2017, church schools tended to have the highest average class sizes at both primary and secondary school level. State schools, on the other hand, consistently had the smallest average class size, the data showed.

In 2016, Birkirkara hosted the most students, followed by Pembroke and Ħamrun, with 3,306, 3,206 and 2,945 registered students respectively.