New Zealand school principals are raising the alarm that students are falling off the rosters, as a wave of absenteeism follows COVID-19 disruptions.
Last year, schools in Auckland and parts of the North Island were shut down for weeks or months as the country went into lockdown.
However, since then, principals say that a worrying number of students have not made it back to school, or are not attending regularly.
Vulnerable students are falling through the gaps and disappearing, despite schools visiting homes and contacting families and neighbors to find them.
“I’ve already taken 42 children off the roll totally, because they’d