Missing School

You can be out of school for a lot of different reasons. You may have been sick for a long time, someone in your family may have died, and maybe your family took a holiday. Sometimes there are valid reasons to miss school but it is important to be able to catch up with your homework and lessons when you get back.

Catching up doesn’t have to be difficult. Asking a teacher to go through what you have missed can often help. Other times you might need a bit of support at home or with a tutor. If you’ve missed school and need some help catching up, you might want to ask someone in school for more support to make up for what you missed.

‘Mitching’ is when you leave school when you aren’t supposed to. Usually your parents and teachers aren’t aware you have missed school. There are many different reasons someone might want to leave school during the day or after lunchtimes. There might be something about school that really bothers you. You might feel like you need extra help and no one is taking the time to help you. You might feel like things are really easy and you don’t need to be in school at all.

Whatever the reason you are missing school you have the right to talk about it with someone. The legal age to leave school is 16 (or the completion of three years post-primary education) so until that time, under the law, you are required to be in school. If you talk to your parents or teachers you might be able to sort out why you’ve been missing school and figure out ways for you to attend and be happier in school.

If you miss school for quite a while, it’s the school’s responsibility to tell your parents and the National Education Welfare Board about what’s been going on. You have the right to get a proper education, which will help and guide you throughout your life. Not going into school means you are being denied one of your rights.