Kids missing more school since pandemic, CBC analysis finds

It's a typical weekday in Beth Acton's Montreal home. Two of her children are at school, but another, 12-year-old Connor, is asleep upstairs under a pile of Squishmallows. 

Acton logs on to an app on her phone to report Connor's latest absence to his school, something she's been doing regularly since the fall of 2022, which was the second time Connor got COVID-19.

"He is ill very, very frequently. You know, kind of catches anything that's going around…. And it's not just that he's always sick, but he's also very fatigued, he's having instances of headaches, feeling very dizzy or unsteady, and he sometimes just can't even complete the school day."

Connor, who is struggling to pass his Grade 7 year, has not been diagnosed with a chronic condition, but his delicate health has meant he's missed most of the last four weeks of school.

Connor's case is extreme, but exclusive data compiled by CBC News suggests he is far from alone in missing considerably more school than before the pandemic. In multiple districts across the country, rates of chronic absence — the percentage of students who miss at least 10 per cent of the school year, or two full days a month — are up significantly.

There is no data as to why. Interviews with experts and those affected suggest there are many reasons — from illness to bullying to a lack of support services — which vary by district and even by school.

CBC's analysis found more children missing school in every district or province that was able to provide data compared with pre-pandemic. In six districts, the rate of absence or chronic absence more than doubled. In Newfoundland and parts of New Brunswick, more than half of high school students are chronically absent. But the most significant increases were among elementary students.

It's an issue that's flown under the radar in Canada because there is no publicly available national data on how many kids miss large amounts of school or the reasons why. 

This is not the case in both the U.S. and the U.K., where the number of students missing significant amounts of school is being called a national crisis.

The lack of data makes it almost impossible for policy-makers to get a sense of the scope of the problem and take action, says Maria Rogers, a child psychologist and Canada Research Chair in Child Mental Health and Well Being at Carleton University.

"If we don't have the data to show that our children are missing tremendous amounts of school, far more than they have in the past … then it's easy to look the other way," she told CBC News.

Children who attend school regularly generally have better emotional health, better relationships with teachers and stronger social connections, Rogers added.

"We know that academic achievement, broadly speaking, is one of the top predictors worldwide of a healthy adulthood."

It's possible, experts say, that the pandemic has had a lasting impact on attitudes toward school attendance. Some parents, more likely to be working from home themselves, may be keeping their kids home with milder symptoms for longer than they would have pre-pandemic.