Heather du Plessis-Allan: I disagree with sending sick kids into school

I'm mostly with David Seymour in that we need to get kids back into class, I'm with him in that we need to slash truancy rates- and there needs to be a very good reason for kids to miss school.

I would even go so far as to say this is right up there in top 5 things that need to be sorted in this country.

But where we part company is on his call to get kids back into class even if they’re sick.

He's quoted some data, wrongly by the way, showing that health related school absences have doubled since Covid. I've looked at the data, they haven't doubled, and David's actually not right.

It's up by 30 percent- maybe. If I fudge the numbers a bit for him, I could stretch it to 60 percent. But he has overcooked it.

Nevertheless, what he plans to do is release some guidelines in the next few weeks giving parents advice on what kind of sickness they should keep the kid home for, like Covid, and what kind of sicknesses they can send the kids to school with- like a sniffle.

But I dunno, a sniffle is not a objective thing, is it?

A sniffle to my boss, I've discovered, is basically what you and I would consider the flu.

Look I can see the argument for carrying on while sick. Kids keep getting educated, workers keep being productive, that's good stuff. But it’s not smart.

If you're sick, you need to get better. And if there was one positive thing that came out of Covid, it was us learning to stay home if we’re sick and not infect others.

It honestly gets on my nerves now if someone who works closely with me, like my boss, comes to work sick. I don't want that. I don't want to struggle through work for a week because old mate didn’t want to stay home.

It also gets on my nerves when people bring their sick kids around. Be responsible, keep that sick kid home. I don’t want a toddler waking me up at 3am with gastro. I'm a working mum, I don’t need that.

Put this in context, these are the actual numbers-

Health related absences were at 5.3 percent in 2019. They rose last year to 6.9 percent, that's not massive.

And if it is because we are more considerate now with trying to avoid infecting others, that's fair enough. Because I've always believed there is only one reason you can miss school and it’s cause you’re sick.

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