DUCKPOND

Apparently the man of plans, NSW Premier Morris Iemma, intends sending the parents of school age children who wag school to prison. Predictably, according to The Sydney Morning Herald the grand plan has run into a storm of protest, and not it seems in the first instance from the parents or the children who miss class.

Reporter, Alexandra Smith, quoted Iemma speaking in State Parliament as saying:

“We’re not talking about kids that wag the odd day,” Mr Iemma told Parliament. But “if counselling, mediation and second chances” did not work, the next step for parents could be prison.

“Schools will now have the support they need to get their students back into class, where they belong, where they can be protected and where they can develop and thrive,” he said. The Herald pressed the Government on how the laws would work. Which of two parents might be found culpable and sent to jail? Might both parents be jailed? If so, who would be left at home to ensure the child was sent to school?

As far as I can tell, these questions went unanswered. Welfare and Education experts were critical, suggesting that it would impact on the most socially disadvantaged. Primary school principals the article suggested backed the plan, so there must be a problem, whose size was set out in the front page article in the newspaper.

The consequence of the plan, I would guess, is that is likely to a cause of increasing the rate of imprisonment among a section of the population who may more likely to that fate than other socio-economic groups. The simplest course, it seems to me, is ask parents why their children are not going to school, and find out what can be done to encourage them. I would suggest that these interviews take place over time so as to avoid the pitfalls of drive-by sociology.

As it turns out, and unsurprisingly this problem is not unique to New South Wales. According to the blog, Life in Catalonia:

Badalona town council is following the example of El Prat, where a similar scheme was first introduced two years ago, and will be fining the parents of children who persistently miss school up to €3,000 euros.

Ten sets of parents in the Sant Roc districts have been targeted initially after a number of alternative options failed to resolve the problem. In certain districts of the town – Congrés, El Remei, La Mora, Sant Roc and Artigas – absenteeism rates are as high as 34%, and there are a total of 140 children already under observation.

There are no official figures available for the pilot scheme in El Prat’s Sant Cosme district, though it is believed that truancy rates fell by around 25 percentage points over the first twelve months.

Fining parents might be in effect the same as sending one or other to prison, so I think the elucidation of reasons why the children did not attend school is the way to go. Common sense suggests that is the children were thriving and developing at school it would be difficult to keep them away.