Parents offered travel concessions to contain children's truancy |
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Tue, 20 Sep 2005 06:05
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LONDON: Concerned at the increasing trend of truancy among students, the government is forcing a scheme for parents which offers travel and other concessions if they book trips during school olidays.
Called "Every Lessons Counts" scheme, it offers free child places per booking, 15 per cent discount on fare and some cash incentives. Travel companies Thomas Cook, Kuoni, Virgin, Airtours and Thomson & Skytours have signed up in the scheme, which is to come into effect this November.
Parents who book early can expect these offers, which include 50 pounds off all trips with a child in the party and 50 per cent discounts for up to two children when sharing with two adults, besides
the free child place and 15 per cent price cuts. The campaign is intended to discourage parents from taking their children on foreign trips during non-vacation times.
Some of the schools have already started taking action against parents like a penalty of 50 pounds for non-attendance. Schools are allowed to authorise absences of up to 10 days during term time, but these absences are described as truancy. At one time, the government had seriously considered withdrawing this discretionary power, but then decided against such a step.
The scheme, jointly sponsored by the department for education and skills and the Association of British Travel Agents, will be funded by the travel industry. Earlier some travel operators, in association with local authorities, had sponsored such a scheme, which has been described as successful.
According to studies, some 70,000 students are known to skip classes in a day in the country and the proposed scheme is one of several measures initiated by the government to check this malady. Steps in place include tougher action by head teachers, police intervention and threat of prosecution. But these steps have not proved to be any real deterrent.
A spokesperson for the Association of British Travel Agents said the industry is happy to work with the government to help reduce term-time absences in schools.
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