SIR Keir Starmer is turning to artificial intelligence in a major crackdown on children missing school.
The PM intends to create a national truancy register to ensure that all councils monitor “ghost children” who do not show up in class.
And AI will be deployed to track the whereabouts of absent students based on information from schools, doctors’ offices and city halls.
The Labor Party has previously suggested giving each child a unique number, such as an NHS number, to make it easier to track behavior patterns.
A Whitehall source said: “This is the first step in our plans to drive high and rising standards across all our public schools and provide better life opportunities for children.”
A record number of students miss school for longer, with one in 50 not attending at least half of their classes.
Figures from the Department for Education reveal that 150,000 people in public schools were “severely absent” last academic year, which is an increase of 30,000 on the previous 12 months.
Sir Keir’s record and other plans to stop pupils falling behind after Covid will be revealed in the King’s Speech on Wednesday.
This will give watchdog Ofsted access to absenteeism rates as part of school inspections.
Parents of homeschooled students will also have to inform board officials.
The proposed Education Bill will also include measures to ensure that all teachers are fully qualified – currently 24,000 in public schools do not have formal qualifications.
And it will limit the number of branded uniform items parents must buy to three to ease cost pressures.
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson previously said: “Parents who don’t care about sending their children to school are harming other children’s life chances, not just their own.”
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