Time to get tough on parents whose children are persistently absent from school - Ismail Mulla

Surely, these uniforms could have been bought in advance? There’s a school of thought that you buy uniforms towards the tail end of summer as children do grow fast. Perfectly understandable. But leaving it til the last day? I’m no child expert but surely they don’t shoot up in size overnight?

When we were kids, uniforms were bought in the first two weeks of the summer holidays with parents insisting on buying a size or two up as we’d ‘grow into them’. I still remember how much importance they attached to making sure we had the right uniform that met the criteria.

A letter from the school for not having the proper clothing or kit would lead to us being rebuked at home. It was a matter of pride for them but it also instilled discipline in us.

When I started working in an office, I knew I had to turn out smart. It also made sure that we paid attention to other aspects of growing up - such as turning up on time and maintaining a work ethic.

Granted school uniforms are expensive. And there are some families that genuinely need support. Surely those parents queuing for uniforms at the last minute were not doing so out of cashflow problems?

I’d hazard a guess that the past six weeks were spent holidaying, with school nothing but an inconvenience for them. It sets a bad precedent. Little wonder children don’t want to be in the classroom and attendance records are pathetic.

Parents don’t seem to have their priorities right. When did schools morph into daycare centres? I still remember the galling sense of entitlement that some parents exhibited during the lockdown. The overriding sentiment being ‘take our kids off our hands for six hours so we can enjoy lockdown drinks at home’.

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson warned parents of the dangers of poor attendance at the start of the school year.

The warning came after the BBC revealed more than half of pupils who missed some of the first week went on to become "persistently absent" in 2024, compared with just 14 per cent of pupils who fully attended the first week.

She said parents had to pull together with schools and government to get their children "off to a good start".

The reality is that no matter how much urging the Education Secretary does, there are some parents who simply won’t change their ways because it is they who hold responsibility for their children turning up at school ready to learn.

A lot has been said about the social contract being broken but little has been proposed on how it should be fixed. The only way that some parents will start taking education seriously is if punitive measures are implemented against them.

Hit them where it hurts, in the pocket. And if non-attendance continues then regular social worker visits, as well as mandatory in person meetings with the school to understand the issues that are resulting in absences.

The value of education has been eroded to an inconvenience between holidays for some. That has to stop. Otherwise we’ll have an ill-equipped workforce in the future that is incapable of running a bath, nevermind operating a photocopier.

Anyway, not being members of the jet set, the other half and I have been spending free time watching The Hundred. For a cricket purist such as myself it is an abomination but it has enabled me to introduce the other half to some of the quirks of the game.

The other day it was the Duckworth Lewis Stern method used to revise target scores in limited overs matches.

A light blub went off in the other half’s mind, this could be a good way for engaging pupils. As would the misleading graphs that give a false reading on the bowler’s speed.

The point being that there’s a need to better engage with the pupils that are bothering to turn up. Whether that is through sport or another medium that they have an interest in. It’s just as much about inspiring as it is educating.