Wednesday, 14 August 2024

 Ann-Marie HERMANS (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (13:00): (1025) With the Education State faltering under Labor, with approximately 300,000 students, or one in three Victorian students, not meeting basic standards in maths and English, my question is to the Minister for Education, and I ask: what immediate action is being taken to address the issue of student absenteeism, particularly in the municipalities of Casey, Cardinia and Frankston in my electorate. Frankston is number eight on the top 10 local government areas list with the most year 7 absences in 2023, numbering over 35,000 days of absenteeism across over 1300 students. This is up more than 29,000 days from 2019. In Cardinia there has been a 55 per cent increase in year 6 students being absent from school, and in Casey the most significant increase has been the year 11 students, with an increase of 87.6 per cent. I spoke about absenteeism recently in an adjournment, but students need to be at school. What action is this government taking to address this?