Mental health issues are one of the biggest barriers to young people attending school according to the most recent figures. By and large, schools across Wales have not returned to pre-pandemic levels of attendance, so we take a look at some of the biggest factors affecting pupils.
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00:00The latest figures on secondary school attendances in Wales have shown that 40% of pupils miss
00:08on average half a day a week over the course of the school year.
00:13One of the major reasons for the high number of school absentees is mental health problems,
00:18with students saying the school causes stress and anxiety for them.
00:23The term emotionally based school avoidance is used to describe pupils missing school
00:27due to mental health issues and has been on the rise over the last decade.
00:32The pandemic caused a massive shift in the numbers of young people regularly attending
00:36school with many areas still not seeing pre-pandemic levels of school attendance return.
00:43Campaigners have called on the Welsh Government and local authorities to do more to fix the
00:47issue.
00:49The Welsh Government earlier on this year announced a national plan to tackle the problem
00:53along with similar plans from local authorities across Wales.