among five and six year olds
The recently-released Budget paper also shows the Education Ministry warned the government last year that the pandemic was substantially worsening inequities for Māori and Pacific students, especially in Auckland.
"Students are most likely to have reduced their attendance in response to Covid-19 if they attend a low decile school, are in earlier year levels, are Pacific or Māori, or participate in Māori medium education," the document said.
"We are also concerned about the impact of Covid-19 and lockdowns and attendance and engagement for disabled learners and learners from socio-economically
disadvantaged backgrounds. The problem is growing in both volume and breadth and is impacted by a range of in-school and home and community factors."
The report said 40 percent of the children with attendance problems had not had such problems prior to the pandemic.
Link to interview and article: Pandemic hits school attendance among five and six year olds | RNZ News
