Covid 19 Omicron: School attendance rates in term 2 plummet to 40 per cent amid wave of sickness

Photo / ThinkstockThe number of children regularly attending school plummeted to a record low of 40 per cent in term 2 as Covid-19 ripped through the country. Record low levels of school attendance hit Māori and Pasifika in term 2 hardest with just 27 per cent and 26 per cent respectively attending school regularly (attending more than 90 per cent of the time). The latest Ministry of Education data showed overall 39.9 per cent of all students were attending school regularly in term 2. This was down from 57.7 per cent in term 2 2019 pre-Covid, 64.2 per cent in 2020 and 59.7 per cent in 2021. Chronic absence (attending 70 per cent or less of the term) increased to 13.8 per cent in term 2 - up from 7.3 per cent in the same term in 2019, pre-Covid.