Category: Truancy

Truancy is one of the major behaviours associated with students, especially senior students at youthful stage. It is the act of consistent inconsistency in school attendance on the part of the student. Truancy is also any intentional unauthorized or illegal absence from compulsory schooling. It has also been identified as the act of absenting oneself from school without a legitimate reason and without the permission of student’s parents or the school authorities (Herbert, 2005). Fogeman and Hibbert (1990) contend that any absence from school without an acceptable reason could be termed truancy, whether or not the students’ parents know and approve of it. Most truant students in school out rightly avoid participating in any of the school activities, even other co-curricular activities. At such period they may be found hiding away in another part of the school, engaging in some sort of illicit activities or idling away.

A cursory observation reveals that despite the huge investments made to reposition education in Akwa Ibom State there is still a yawning gap in respect of the individuals. There have been various cases of truant behaviour among the students. This has affected learning and teaching and production of the expected disciplined manpower for the state. Various publications indicate that the general public and the government have become increasingly concerned over the great increase in poor discipline and truancy in particular, among students in the secondary schools.

Truancy is any intentional unauthorized or illegal absence from compulsory schooling. The term describes absence caused by students on their own free will, and usually does not refer to legitimate excused absence, such as ones related to medical conditions. The terms exact meaning differs from school to school, and is usually explicitly defined in the school’s handbook of policies and procedures (Home-school, 2005).

Truancy is also refers to student who refuses to attend any form of classes while in school. In certain schools, truancy may result in not graduating from one class to the other or not graduating at all and to receive award or credit for activities until the time lost to truancy is redeemed through a combination of penalties, disciplines, suspension or summer school. The National Centre for School Engagement (2012), posited that truancy is any unexcused absence from school and that states enact their own school attendant laws. State law determines the age at which a child is required to begin attending school, the age at which a child may legally dropout of school, and the number of unexcused absences at which a student is considered legally truant, Bolarin (1996) identify truancy among adolescents as an act of indiscipline commonly found in Nigerian schools. This act of truancy is detrimental to student’s achievement, promotion graduation and employment potentials. Students who miss school fall behind their peers in the classroom. Rumberger (2011) point to the consequential effect of school dropout as a result of truancy especially among school going adolescents, Hersov and Berg (1990) listed the effects of truancy to include several kinds of antisocial behaviours, such as stealing, lying, destructiveness and excessive fighting

In this era of modernization, truancy is becoming a serious problem in school. The rate of truancy has increased dramatically among the teenager. They most likely wander around the cyber café or the street to do something bad for them such as smoking and bullying. This phenomenon must be curbed as soon as possible to cultivate students with good moral values. Hence, the school authority can communicate school attendance to students and their families, form an attendance team and create a more positive school culture to overcome this issue.

First and foremost, teachers play a significant role in reducing the rate of truancy in school. The teachers could communicate school attendance to students and their families. This is because the students are able to follow the syllabus which has been scheduled by teachers. During the traditional class, the teacher will not be able to record the progress, unlike online class. The teachers would also not reteach again. Thus, full attendance is important to ensure the students can follow up on the syllabus and be able to sit on the examination. Hence, the students and parents would understand the vital of attendance and avoid truancy.

Furthermore, the school authority could form an attendance team with the cooperation of the prefects, counselors and teachers. The main task of the team is to monitor students’ attendance daily. For instance, the team can record the attendance in every class. If they find that the students are absent, they can message their parents immediately to make sure whether they are absent for a possible reason or just truancy. This is in the light that some parents do not even their children are truant. They think their children are in the school, however, they run out of school when seeing their parents’ cars drive away. As a result, the parents can know the actual situation of their children and make sure their children are entering the school before they leave.

Last, but certainly not least, a more positive and interesting school culture can be created in order to deal with the truancy among the students. This is in the fact that one of the reasons why the students want to truancy is because they feel bored in the school. So they find it more fun and exciting when truancy. In this case, the school authority could build an engaging events calendar that motivates students to come to school. For example, ‘Academic Week’,’ Art Week’ and ‘Green Week’ can be organized frequently to increase the interest among the students. Besides, the school authority can give the award to those who are getting full attendance. To summarize, a positive and funny school atmosphere would instil spirit and motivation among the students.

In conclusion, truancy can be tackled in these several ways. The school authority and parents should cooperate to monitor the students. Communication between both sides is a must and the parents should always focus on their students ‘ situations in the school. So that, truancy can be reduced effectively and efficiently in the future.