11.5% of students failed to turn up at school on Monday

11.5% of students have failed to justify their absenteeism when not attending school, a parliamentary question has revealed.

In a reply to a parliamentary question by Nationalist MP Clyde Puli, Education Minister Owen Bonnici said 3,558 students did not attend school on Monday and did not justify their absence.

The statistics presented in parliament were based on attendance figures for Monday 16 November, and give a snapshot of the situation in government schools.

From a population of 30,925 students, 22,698 attended school.

15.1% were absent for justified and medical reasons.

Notably, 45.19% of Virtual School students did not attend lessons on the day. This means that 216 students from a cohort of 478 failed to tune in online.

With almost a quarter of student, the St Gorg Preca College had the highest unexcused absentee rate.

24.08% of students in this college failed to turn up, with only 60.98% attending school. From a college population of 2,176, 14.93% had their absence excused.

St Gorg Preca College’s Hamrun Secondary School registered 45.2% absenteeism on Monday, with only 51.41% of students attending school. The school has a student population of 354.

With only a student population of 16, St Gorg Preca College Msida Educational Hub had an absentee rate of 56.25%.

St Nicholas College had the lowest percentage of absent students among the colleges, with only 5.24% skipping school without a valid reason. With a population of 2,291, 80.01% of students attended school, while 14.75 had an excused absence.

The Gozo College registered an absenteeism of 7.56%. 15.12% of students also did not attend after presenting an excused absence. With a population of 2,222, the Gozo college registered an attendance of 76.87%.

Despite the overall low absentee rate in Gozo, the Gharb Primary had an absentee rate of 23.08%.

Maria Regina College registered an absentee rate of 9.44%, with 77.42% attending and the rest having a justified excuse. The college has the largest cohort of students at 5,039.

St Benedict College had a lowest absentee rate, registering only 8.65% unjustified absences. 74.76% of students attended, while the rest presented justified excuses for skipping school.

10.54% of St Clare College students were absent on the day, with an attendance of 74.93%.

St Ignatius College had an absentee rate of 10.05%. 18.66% of students also filed an excused absence.

St Margaret College registered an absentee rate of 16.38% on Monday from a student population of 2,289. 67,15% attended school.

69.77% of St Theresa College students attended school, with an absentee rate of 10.19%.

St Thomas Moore College registered an absentee percentage of 11.31, with 77.04 of 4,543 students attending.