80,000 students were truant for more than 3 weeks of Term 2

Checkpoint

A staggering 80,000 school students were MIA for more than three weeks of Term 2 this year. That's like waking up one morning and the entire population of Palmerston North city just disappeared. A new report from the Education Review Office said chronic student absences have doubled in the last decade and things are at crisis point. It said intervention is often too late, with attendance services overwhelmed and kids falling through the gaps. Auckland City Education Services Manager Karyl Puklowski spoke to Lisa Owen.