A new ESRI report is showing the numbers of children missing school is up since the pandemic.
Absenteeism in school affects children's social development as well as undermining their education.
That's according to a Laois school principal after new ESRI research indicates the number of children missing school has been on the rise since the pandemic.
The report also suggests more than a third of pupils in the most disadvantaged primary schools miss 20 or more days a year, double the rate in non-Deis schools.
Principal of Raheen National School, Niamh Campion, says anxiety is a big contributing factor in students being absent from schools:
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