long covid

Children’s relationship with school has changed. It was changed by the particular circumstances of the pandemic policies, it was redefined by our difficulty in bringing children “back” to education. Today, however, the images recorded by scientific research and journalistic reports at a global level create concern and reflection. This is because a large percentage of young people see their presence at school as something… optional. And this seems to be another global “long COVID” side effect.

The data for the USA

The figures gathered at the global level are shocking. In the US last school year, 26% of public school students were truant (missing more than 10% of their classes). This percentage before the pandemic was 15%. In fact, according to research data from the American Enterprise Institute, this “explosion” of absences is observed both in the richest and poorest areas of the country. With families in the former declaring in large numbers their children’s absence from school and requesting remote education to go on vacation and in the latter to keep their children at home and look after their younger siblings while their parents work.

What is happening in Greece?

In Greece, fortunately, the above “red lines” have not yet been overcome, although officials of the Ministry of Education find that indeed the percentage of students who are systematically absent from school has increased to a percentage that probably reaches 10% nationwide them for various reasons (mainly medical).

Of course, the problem affects many countries. In England, those consistently absent from class, according to the data of the country’s Ministry of Education, are currently estimated at 21.2%, while before quarantine it was around 10.9%! In the USA and Great Britain the situation is characterized as a “national crisis”, with the latter having set up a special committee to look for solutions. “I think that when the bond with the school is broken, it is difficult to reverse the situation” stated the previous days Don Coombs, a senior educator, in a survey conducted by the CBC, Canada’s public broadcasting network, according to which the rate of absenteeism more than doubled in many states of the country. A survey carried out in Scotland comes to the same conclusion: 40% of secondary school pupils miss one day of school every fortnight…

What the experts say

Many experts in Greece and abroad attribute the causes of this new education landscape to the way students and parents now deal with school. “When we ask parents why their child doesn’t come to school for no reason, they often answer that he doesn’t want to, he can’t wake up in the morning” says a typical teacher of a large school in the capital who spoke to “Vima”. The pandemic thus seems to have proven that everyday life “I wake up, get ready and go to school” it is no longer indisputable. Unfortunately, the consequences of this new trend will be great both for the academic course and for the social life and mental health of the children. “The child’s absence from school with various excuses that we didn’t even think about in the past can have consequences on his socialization, but it certainly has on a learning level: when a student misses a lesson for a week, when he returns he finds it difficult to attend” points out Vasiliki Gogoulouprincipal at a High School in Attica.

The dominant cause

She believes that the problem of the difficulty of connecting children with school in Greece is not so much due to distance education and the pandemic. “Maybe that played a part, but I don’t think that’s the main reason.” declares. “I associate it more with the change in the leave regime that happened a few years ago. The number of absences that students can now take without having to justify them is huge in my opinion. Also include those not counted due to COVID, viruses, etc. In short, the high number of absences, the certainty that they are not going to be in danger, combined with the fact that the school is not attractive, make children avoid school. states. It is recalled that in 2019 by ministerial decision of the then Minister of Education Costas Gavroglou the number of permitted absences (which are no longer divided into justified and unjustified) reaches 114. At the same time, with circulars from the Ministry of Education this year, absences from classes due to the outbreak of COVID or the flu are registered but not counted.

The distinction between excused and unexcused absences is back

In this context, according to the new operating regulation of schools announced by the Minister of Education, the distinction between justified and unjustified absences is restored. Now more than 50 absences require justification, while parents will be able to justify up to 2 consecutive days of absence. At the same time, the limit of 114 absences is maintained.