The president of New Zealand's secondary school teachers' union has hit out at the Government's suggestion it could target sick kids skipping school as part of its upcoming anti-truancy package.
The Government's 36-point action plan for the next three months, released on Tuesday, includes: "Launch an Attendance Action Plan and introduce the first phase of initiatives to lift school attendance."
The ACT Party and National both campaigned on the issue of truancy.
ACT leader David Seymour – also associate education minister – suggested this week to RNZ's Checkpoint programme that a high level of health-related absences will be among the issues targeted.
"I think we're going to have to start being a bit clearer about what exactly is a valid reason to stay home," he said.
"We've had a lot on the public health lately, less on the education."
Post Primary Teachers' Association president Chris Abercrombie said the Government's education plans were light on detail.
"The Government telling parents if their kid is sick enough to go to school or not, it seems a really big overreach," he told Breakfast.
And it wouldn't work anyway, Abercrombie said: "Absolutely not.
"The best people in this situation to make that decision are parents.
"Everyone's got different standards and that health versus education [comment from Seymour], it's not an and/or situation.
"Say your child's unwell and you send them to school, they're not gonna be learning at their best if they'e unwell."
Abercrombie said it seemed to him that Seymour was suggesting parents were lying to schools.
There were a number of other reasons for high truancy rates, Abercrombie said, pointing to the cost of living crisis as one.
"Something as simple as not having a school uniform, not having lunch, not having petrol in the car to drop them off, not having bus fare, all of these sort of things impact on this."
The Government has taken a number of steps to address the cost of living, including cutting Auckland's Regional Fuel Tax – but Seymour has also asked that the government-funded Ka Ora, Ka Ako Healthy School Lunch Programme be reviewed ahead of the May Budget.
"Kids are going hungry, we know this happens," Abercrombie said. "And we're gonna take this thing away?
"Every school talks about the importance of that programme and how vital it is for helping attendance, helping achievement, getting kids into school," he added.
Seymour has also publicly posed the potential for on-the-spot fines for parents of certain truant children.
"I can see in perhaps a very small minority of cases where you've got parents who've had lots of chances, lots of warnings, and have the ability to pay, then maybe, just maybe the right thing to do is to fine them," he told RNZ.
Abercrombie was again critical.
"Attendance is really important, I don't want anyone to think that it's not.
"But I don't think telling sick kids to go to school and fining parents is the way to do that."
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