Maximum penalty low

Parents force 60 children to “play truant”

(Bild: stock.adobe.com/CIAVAFURLAN.COM)

Truancy as a remnant of the pandemic is keeping the courts busy. There are currently around 60 children in Upper Austria who are being forced by their parents to stay at home with mommy and daddy all the time and not go to school at all. Only 440 euros is the "maximum penalty" for this notorious truancy - too little to really put pressure on them.

They should actually be in a class, but are taught at home - or not. Around 60 children in Upper Austria are left at home by their parents, even though they do not meet the requirements for home schooling - a "remnant" from the coronavirus era, when up to 1427 children were taught at home. But mostly legally. This is because you can also teach your child at home; 96 girls and boys are registered this year. But this home schooling is only permitted as long as the pupils prove their performance in so-called external examinations. If a candidate fails or does not even take the exam, they are forced to attend class in the next school year and are ordered to attend school by the authorities, i.e. the district authority.