Ontario high schools have an attendance problem. Here is what experts say could be behind it.

Ontario Education Minister Paul Calandra explains the tabled bill that would see sweeping changes to the education system.

Skipping class could soon cost Ontario high school students on their report cards, as the province is looking to factor attendance into their final grades. It’s a response to rising absenteeism across the province but experts say it overlooks the realities keeping some teens out of school.

Education Minister Paul Calandra shared earlier this week that the province has seen absenteeism “creeping up” over the last few years, and hasn’t yet to return to normal levels since before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Data provided to CTV News by the government revealed that only 40 per cent of secondary school students met the target of 90 per cent attendance in the last academic year. In 2018, that attendance threshold was nearly 60 per cent.

• READ MORE: Only 4 out of 10 Ontario high school students meeting government attendance target

To address the problem, the Ford government is looking to base up to 15 per cent of final grades in high school on attendance.

There are more reasons than just playing hooky that could be contributing to emptier classrooms, however.

Rebecca Greaves, CEO and founder of TheParentAdvocate, an educational consulting firm, pointed to at least three reasons as to why attendance rates are low. The first being how the pandemic shifted how families view attendance, Greaves said.

“We saw, for the first time, an entire group of students that realized I can engage in my education outside of school,” Greaves explained. “We now have some flexible thinking, one around how school must look.”

The digitization of course materials is another factor that can contribute to a lack of attendance, Greaves said, as students can access their notes, assignments and resources online without needing to be at class (with the exception of exams they are required to show up for).

But the biggest factor in play, in Greaves’s view, is mental health.

“We know that today’s youth are experiencing disproportionate challenges around mental health,” Greaves said, pointing to data released by Statistics Canada which showed a decline in youth mental health.

• READ MORE: ‘The kids are not all right’: Young Canadians describe mental health struggles

“I think that is probably the biggest driving piece around attendance rates.”

Having attendance account for 10 to 15 per cent of a student’s grade will “punish” the most vulnerable students, Greaves said.

“It is on a weekly basis that I talk to parents whose kids are currently out of school either due to mental health challenges or they’re experiencing something that we call burnout,” Greaves said. “These aren’t students that are disengaged, these aren’t kids that don’t want to be at school, it’s quite the opposite.”

Though introducing attendance into the final grade would increase the cost of being absent for students who are merely disengaged, University of Toronto economic professor and co-director of Equity in Education Elizabeth Dhuey said it risks exacerbating inequality amongst school children at the same time.

“If it’s other things that are causing kids not to go to school like caregiving, housing instability, transportation issues, all those kind of other mental health issues, then that’s not going to help right, at all,” Dhuey said in an interview.

For its part, the province did say that students will not be penalized for missing class for an excused absence, illness or religious observance.

Support, not penalize

Many are criticizing the Ford government for penalizing students for missing school, instead of providing them the resources that they may need to succeed.

Liberal education critic John Fraser lambasted the province for not investigating the cause of the increase in absences, saying they’re opting for the “easiest thing to do.”

“I’m not saying that attendance isn’t important, but if kids aren’t going to school and the numbers are as bad as they are, it’s not because the kids are bad. It’s because we’re failing the kids,” Fraser said at Queen’s Park Wednesday.

Ontario Greens Leader Mike Schreiner doubled up on Fraser’s sentiments, calling Calandra’s response “punitive.”

“When you have classrooms that are overcrowded, when you have schools that don’t have enough educational assistance, special education instructors, students not getting the services and supports they need,” Schreiner told reporters on Wednesday. “Attendance is going down—will go down—and instead of addressing that and addressing their funding cuts, the minister’s response now is: we’re just going to punish students.”

• READ MORE: TDSB says nearly 300 teaching jobs will be cut in the fall

To have students attend class more frequently, Greaves said the province should be shifting its resources to provide better supports for children.

“The answer isn’t you penalize them. The answer is, how can you give them support that they need in order to be able to attend?” Greaves said.

By failing to address the root causes of absenteeism, Greaves says the province is allowing underlying issues to persist.

“If you’re looking at who’s actually going to benefit from this, it’s our students who are already showing up, it’s our kids that aren’t facing barriers around attendance,” Greaves said. “But now, I have all these other kids, these vulnerable students in the board and we’re going to further penalize them, because they’re in crisis.”

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Calandra assured the policy change would take into account vulnerable students.

“The regulations that we put in place will respect the fact that there are many challenges that people will face and they shouldn’t be penalized for those so we will absolutely work with educators to make sure that the regulations do take that into it,” Calandra said.

With files from CP24’s Joshua Freeman