A total of seven cases of truancy Detected in the province of Granada have reached the provincial subcommission created to address the repeated absences of students in which, among others, the Juvenile Prosecutor’s Office participates. Up to this point, the cases have gone through the different stages established by the Order of September 19, 2005 and which establishes how to address these cases and try to solve them, first from the educational center itself, with community social services and teams school absenteeism technicians and, later, with the tools of the municipal and provincial commission or subcommittee. Only in the most serious cases, in which there is no justification, does the Prosecutor’s Office intervene to “exercise criminal action against those parents or guardians who allegedly have infringed the duties inherent to parental authority in this area.”
The seven cases, according to the response provided by the territorial Delegation of the Ministry of Education and Sports in the province of Granada through the Transparency portal, occur in Primary (five cases) and ESO (two others) until last December 22 . It is also specified that “various performances”To respond to these situations.
It is established that the student is absentee when the absences without justification after one month they are five school days in Primary Education and twenty-five hours of classes in Compulsory Secondary Education, or the equivalent of 25% of school days or class hours, respectively. Once a case is detected, it is the minor’s guardian who begins to work to reverse the situation. The rule states that teachers are the first to try to get families to commit to taking their children to school. It also establishes that in the case of no response, the Head of Studies or Directorate is used, in addition to the community social services and technical teams. At this stage, families are warned of the “responsibilities they may be incurring”.
The social services assess the situation and can determine the measures to be taken, such as a “psychosocial intervention plan” with the child and his family and, if necessary, communicate the facts to the Prosecutor’s Office for Minors and the Administration. If these measures do not take effect and “a possible situation of vulnerability is appreciated”, the Juvenile Prosecutor’s Office.
To coordinate the actions, the Order establishes the creation of a provincial absenteeism commission, with the presence of the Education delegate and the provincial head of Equality and Social Welfare. Also part of this committee represents the Autonomous Police, the Provincial Council, the town halls, the parents ‘associations, the schools and institutes and the Minors’ Prosecutor’s Office. Among its functions is to “decide on the measures to be adopted with respect to the students with whom it has intervened in the school and social spheres and, despite this, remain absenteeism”.
Last year, after the suspension of face-to-face classes, it was determined that 11,400 Granada students were “disconnected” in the third quarter, months in which teaching was one hundred percent virtual.
At the beginning of this course there were initiatives aimed at promoting the absence of students from class since different groups –such as platforms for parents of students and unions– and groups of families criticized that the centers were not safe spaces in times of pandemic. The Minister of Education and Sports, Javier Imbroda, indicated that in Andalusia in the first quarter there were 11,427 cases of absenteeism in Primary for “fear of contagion” and “structural” absenteeism. Another 16,005 cases occurred in ESO.