CHAPTER ONE
1.0 INTRODUCTION
Truancy refers to students unexcused absences from school. Concern about truancy typically focuses on these unexcused absences. However, any school absence excused or unexcused as well as missed classes and hardy arrivals can affect students negatively. Despite good parental care and proper supervision of the school, some children are good at staying out of classes while lessons are going on. Some of the pupils may leave their houses in the morning for school but are not found in the school. Attendance of pupils at lesson has been a problem from the inception of formal education. The checking of attendance ushered in the daily attendance register. Irregular attendance has been identified by Adeyeno (1992) as one of the reasons for academic backwardness. Although no national statistics on truancy exist, some metropolitan areas report thousands of absent youths on any school day. Truancy affects students of all ages, from all types of communities and socio-economic backgrounds (Robins and Kathryn, 1998).
Robins and Kathlyn (1998) in their research showed that factors contributing to truancy stem from three areas: school, family and community and student characteristics. The two researchers identified school factors as comprising of inconsistent and ineffective school attendance policies, poor record keeping, not notifying parents or guardians of absences and unsafe school environment and inadequate identification of special education needs.
Family and community factors including negative peer influences; such as other truant youths, financial, social, medical, or other problems that pressurize students to stay to help the family, child abuse and neglect, family disorganization, teenage pregnancy or parenthood, lack of family support for educational and other goals and violence in or near the home or school. Those factors identified as student characteristics were lack of personal and educational ambition, poor academic performance, lack of self esteem, unmet mental health needs, alcoholism, drug use and abuse.