school. Far too often parents and guardians do not know if a student is in school or not. They do not accept the responsibility to be sure that a young person in their care actually gets to school and stays there. By law they are required to do just that.

For a large number of reasons, not all young people enjoy going to school and too often the decision to attend or to "play hookey'' rests in reality with the student. That should never be the case.

Absent students become a problem for the schools which also have a duty to ensure that attendance records are kept. We suspect that too often attendance records are seen as a chore which can go undone. If a student is out of school without a medical excuse then the people responsible for that student should be informed because they may not be aware of the absence. They may well be sending their charge to school only to have the student spend the day on the streets where the temptation to get into trouble, cause trouble or generally go astray is very great.

There have been recent suggestions that the Police should be involved in some kind of "sweep'' to check on young people who are not in school. While we accept that there is a problem and that it should be corrected before it becomes a crisis, we find the suggestion to involve the Police excessive. The Police have enough problems when they confront young people over such things as cycle offences and we do not see truency as a Police problem. In any case, using the Police to "sweep'' truants is far too close to treating young people who have a problem with school as criminals. If they commit offences while truant then that is another matter.

Clearly truancy is a problem Bermuda needs to solve but the solution should remain with the Ministry of Education. Those reponsible for students getting to school should be informed of absences and reminded of their duty to ensure attendance. If that does not work then the Police could play a role with parents by having the parish constables visit the parents or guardians of the absent students and issue a warning.

Students with a history of absences should first be dealt with by the principal or deputy principal and the counsellors at the school. There may be academic situations or social conflicts within the school or in the home which are causing the student to stay away from school. Surely the resolution of such problems is the very reason we have school counsellors. "Sweeping'' students in from the street as if they were drug dealers is not going to solve such problems.

In the end it may be necessary to have attendance officers, who are not Police officers, to get the students to school where they can be either helped or disciplined, and let us say that we are not suggesting the strap. However, Bermuda should not forget that the adults in charge of these students are responsible for getting them to school during compulsory school years.