{"id":481804,"date":"2026-06-17T11:04:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T11:04:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/481804\/"},"modified":"2026-06-17T11:04:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T11:04:11","slug":"parent-prosecuted-for-truancy-fails-to-show-at-court-hearing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/481804\/","title":{"rendered":"Parent prosecuted for truancy fails to show at court hearing"},"content":{"rendered":"

The only parent prosecuted in the Government’s crackdown on truancy<\/a> so far failed to turn up to a court date, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour.<\/p>\n

Appearing before the Education and Workforce Select Committee, Seymour said 36 parents had been liable for prosecution.<\/p>\n

He said the threat of court action was sufficient to prompt 18 of those families to send their children to school and 17 others remained under process.<\/p>\n

“A further one had a court date set, but sadly did not show up for court. So you can see that potentially in that family attendance is a multi-generational problem and not just at school,” he said.<\/p>\n

Seymour said a new court date had been set.<\/p>\n

As the minister responsible for school attendance, Seymour said the biggest barrier to reaching the Government’s goal of 80% of students attending more than 90% of their classes<\/a> by 2030 was likely to be parents “who won’t play ball”.<\/p>\n

“At some point we’re going to start making it clear that this is an obligation… it is a real offence against your children’s future,” he said.<\/p>\n

“This will only apply to people who could send their children to school, they don’t face any other barriers, they just won’t. Intransigent people.”<\/p>\n

\"File<\/p>\n

File image of teenage schoolboys sitting on a bench (Source: istock.com)<\/p>\n

Seymour said attendance was steadily improving.<\/p>\n

Green Party MP Lawrence Xu-Nan asked Seymour if schools needed to do more to encourage students’ enjoyment and engagement with school.<\/p>\n

“In terms of what motivates students to go to school I don’t know that making it more fun is what is needed. I think that what is needed is a sense that if you go to school you will get valuable knowledge that will enhance your future that you can’t get elsewhere,” Seymour responded.<\/p>\n

Xu-Nan said some schools were unhappy that attendance rules had changed to limit their flexibility to grant students’ permission to study from home.<\/p>\n

Seymour said schools were only open for about 180 days a year, which left 185 days for other activities.<\/p>\n

“You only have to show up to school like 50% of the days. I don’t think that’s too much,” he said.<\/p>\n

The Education Ministry’s website said primary schools must be open for 378 half days and secondary and composite schools for 376 half days this year.<\/p>\n

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