Hon David Seymour
Associate Minister of Education

Students should be in school and learning instead of protesting during school hours, Associate Education Minister David Seymour says in response to the school climate strike planned for Friday 27th September.

“If students feel strongly about sending a message, they could have waited until Monday, when the end of term holidays begin and there is no school for two weeks. It has become far too common to sacrifice valuable learning time for other causes,” says Mr Seymour.

“The previous government said that protesting instead of attending school could be justified. This in my view is unacceptable. My expectation is that schools will treat students protesting today as explained but unjustified absences.

“I appreciate that some students have passionate views and are anxious about their futures. To that effect I want to be clear, if they want to make real change in the world, they need to turn up to school and get a good education now.

“New Zealand attendance rates are low by national and international standards. In 2023, 80.6% of students in England and 61.6% of students in Australia were attending using a measure similar to the Term 2 New Zealand regular attendance rate, which was only 47.1%.

“Today I announced the introduction of the Stepped Attendance Response (STAR) system. The STAR system will help the government to reach its goal of 80% of students attending class 90% of the time by 2030.

“The idea of the STAR system is that no child will be left behind. To achieve this, any student who reaches a clearly defined threshold of days absent will trigger an appropriate and proportionate response from their school and the Ministry, targeted at returning them to the classroom.

“I encourage students, parents, and educators to prioritise education. That is what this Government is doing, and it is what is required for New Zealand to have a better future.”

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