Band 6+: In many countries, truancy* is a worrying problem for both parents and educators. What are the causes of truancy? What solutions can schools and parents do to reduce this behaviour?

Truancy is a major problem among the global youth, which may cause harm to the child’s mental state. I can identify two broader causes, and two resulting effects which may be caused from truancy.

Firstly, the difficulty of schoolwork may prove to be overly difficult for the child to handle, which may cause a state of uneasiness, and repetition in the student’s consciousness. If kept unchecked or unsupervised, this may result in the pupil to skip school due to the feeling of falling behind, and enjoy other activities such as playing games in non-school areas, or rebel against the education system through acts of petty crimes and vandalism. Secondly, the wider community at the student’s school may cause the child to play truant from school; for example, the teacher or learning assistant may be ostracizing the student from other learners, treating them differently, or neglecting them. School bullying from fellow students is also a major cause of truancy; where an individual, or a group of children come together to pick on other kids; whom they perceive to be inferior, largely based on their physical appearance, or other factors such as emotional development.

Turning to possible effects, the biggest side-effect is falling behind in schoolwork, as not attending classes without the supervision of a higher authority may result in the child to get behind on school work compared to peers. As a result, more and more assignments and test will keep on piling up; which is a major cause of stress and fatigue among learners. Furthermore, another possible side effect is being shunned from peers, as not attending classes will result in the child to see their classment on a less-frequent basis. This may sever, or weaken their bond as ‘classmates’, which is one of the reasons children enjoy attending school; and if that bond is gone, the child may suffer from feelings of exclusion, loneliness, or inferiority, negatively impacting their mental health.

To summarize, truancy is caused from excessively difficult school-work, and a toxic community at school. Possible effects include academic under-achievement, ostracizement, and a possible harm to mental health issues.