E-truancy initiative by government

Comprehensives where truancy is a particular problem are to get hand-held computers to keep track of pupils who persistently bunk lessons, Education Secretary Estelle Morris announced today.

Six hundred secondary schools in England are to be supplied with the equipment, which will ensure miscreants can be tracked from lesson to lesson, at a cost of £11.25 million.Experiments had shown that electronic registration cut truancy by 10%, Ms Morris said.

"That is another little brick in the wall of trying to get the structure right for our urban schools," she said.

The Department for Education and Skills said the computers would enable schools to track pupils as they move from class to class, not just at morning registration.

The information would immediately be sent back to the school office, which would then contact the pupil's home.