TRUANTS AND TRUANT OFFICERS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XCIV, Issue 10786, 25 October 1895, Page 4

TRUANTS AND TRUANT OFFICERS.

Some disappointment will probably he felt by many school committeemen and teachers at the action of the Board of Education in deciding not to appoint a truant officer for the North Canterbury district. We cannot say that we are altogether favourably impressed, either with the Board’s decision, or with some of the suggestions made during the discussion of the subject. As many of our readers will remember, the East Christchurch School Committee determined some little time ago to request the Board to appoint a truant officer, so called, to carry out the provisions of the School Attendance Act. It was supported in this course by other committees, and, we believe, had the sympathy of most of those who wished to see our education system made really compulsory. The appointment of some officer specially authorised to enforce the Act was felt to he all the more necessary, as the new regulations, however successful they may have been in other parts of the colony, have admittedly been a failure in North Canterbury. The Board, however, has declined on the usual ground of “ want of funds ” to make any appointment. But, presumably, to soften the disappointment to its petitioners, it has been liberal towards them in the way of good advice. The committees are asked whether the Attendance Act has been enforced by themselves, although it is an open secret that a truant officer has been applied for owing to their inability to carry out the Act without incurring an odium to which committeemen generally consider they should not be exposed. A special room, it was suggested, should be set apart in each large school, for the incarceration of such waifs and strays as may be gathered in “ from the gutter.” Finally, the committees were recommended to again air their grievance, not indeed “ this day twelve months,” but at a time almost as distant, “about three months before the next session of Parliament.” It is to be hoped that some ,more speedy and effective action than this can and will be taken. The suggestion of the Board means practically the loss of a year, and life, especially schoolboy life, is too short for so long a delay to be advisable. The loss of another year’s education to those children whose absence from school is due to the neglect of their parents is a sufficiently serious matter. But in the case of boys who here and there are drifting into “juvenile crime,” another twelvemonth or so of drifting might suffice for them to graduate with distinction.

I £ ib is impossible for the Board to defray the expense of a truant officer, might not the assistance of the police be secured, at least until the next session of Parliament ? We are aware that there are some who object to this duty being placed in the hands of the police. But the objection is, after all, mainly a sentimental one, and it is probable that the vyork could be done more efficiently by the police than by a civilian. We trust that the committees who have taken up this matter of irregular attendance will not let ib drop. If a conference of committees is to be held at all, why not hold ib now, instead of waiting till next year, when the personnel of the committees may have changed ? And if committees are compelled to wait until next session before obtaining any assistance, might it not then be worth their while to try to secure some alteration in the Attendance Act, in the direction of making it more workable ? One main feature of that Act, as a’t first proposed, was the shifting of the onus of prosecutions from the committees to the Boards, and there is much reason to believe that the measure would be more generally operative if this were done. The committees are purely local bodies, and are more exposed to odium in connection with prosecutions than the members of the Boards would be. Another alteration that might increase the usefulness of the Act would be the fixing of one month as the period during which absences should be reckoned. School Committees, as a rule, meet monthly, and could deal with cases of irregular attendance month by month, much more easily than week by week. In connection with this subject, it may not be out of place to correct a popular misconception which is probably fostered by the use of the term “ truant officer,” Many people are under the impression that those boys and girls whose absence from school is complained of, are absent because they are sent to school and do not go. They are supposed, in schoolboy phraseology, to be “ playing the wag.” This is a mistake. The absence of these children is, in the majority of cases, due to the neglect or selfishness of their parents, who either do not take the trouble to send them to school, or keep them at home to assist in light work. The title of “attendance inspector,” which is in use in some parts of England, would be a much more appropriate one.