Truant students being caught out via SMS

Text messages sent to parents getting hooky players back in the classroom

Schools that send a text message to a student’s parents when their child fails to turn up are seeing a dramatic drop in absenteeism.

The practice has enjoyed great success in Stockholm, and since been adopted by several Danish schools, it has helped to reduce truancy.

Attendance improves
Several Danish schools have staring sending the text messages to the parents of missing kids, making it harder for kids to get away with skipping school. 

Holbæk Municipality sends SMSs to the parents of missing students. While Vamdrup School in Kolding and Herfølge School in Køge both report that using the system is reducing absenteeism.

READ MORE: Human alarm clock programme finds success

“Our students had too many illegal absences, so we started to send parents a text message in 2011,” Herfølge School headteacher Søren Kokholm told Berlingske.

“Absenteeism fell by 50 percent in three months. The system works.”




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