A student keeps missing school: what do you do?

Scenario questions about an absent child, a bruised child or an angry parent are where education panels separate teachers from people who can teach a lesson. They score three things at once: do you know the safeguarding rules, do you keep the child at the centre, and do you use the people around you, the head teacher, the parents and the Community Education Committee, instead of acting alone.

• Know the code of conduct and the child protection policy of the school or NGO, and say that you signed one in your last post.
• No corporal punishment, no shaming, no touching in anger. Positive discipline means rules, praise, a quiet word and fair consequences known in advance.
• Never be alone with a child behind a closed door; keep the door open or another adult in sight.
• If a child tells you something or you see signs of harm: listen calmly, do not promise secrecy, do not question the child for details, write down what you saw or heard, and report to the school's child protection focal person the same day. You report; you do not investigate.
• Keep it confidential: not the staff room, not WhatsApp, not the child's classmates.

1. 1Notice early: after two missed days, not two weeks. A register you actually read is the first tool.
2. 2Talk to the child kindly and privately, door open: is there a reason at home, at school or on the way? Common answers: housework or the family shop, no money for fees or uniform, periods and no toilet, bullying, an early marriage being arranged, an unsafe road.
3. 3Contact the parent within the week, by phone or a home visit with a colleague or a CEC member. Start with something good about the child, then ask, then agree one step.
4. 4Bring in the head teacher and the CEC when the cause is bigger than you: fees can be waived, pads supplied, a route made safer. If the reason is marriage, violence or work that harms the child, it goes to the focal person as a protection case.
5. 5Follow up in two weeks and tell the child you are glad they are back.