More than seven in 10 children in Wales have missed a week or more of face to face school since the academic year began in September.
The stark figures are revealed for the first time in the latest school absence data from the Welsh Government.
Some heads have called for a return to penalties for parents who don’t send their children to school. But the Welsh Government, which suspended penalties at the start of the pandemic, has repeatedly said now is not the right time to bring them back. The Association of School and College Leaders Cymru has expressed concern about where children and teenagers not in lessons are.
Read more: Children in Wales bringing knives and drugs into classrooms as schools face behaviour crisis
A total 338,500 children (71.7%) have missed more than a week of lessons (five and a half days or more) for any reason since September 6 2021.
And nearly one in five children have been off school for a week or more for a known Covid related reason since September - a total 92,300 (19.6%), the figures show.
The figures come as attendance overall remains stubbornly low despite plunging school Covid cases. More than one in 10 children were absent in the week before half term, despite Covid infections in schools more than halving.
Absence is greatest among children in their key GCSE year 11. Children eligible for free school meals are more likely to miss school than their better off peers and girls are more likely to be off than boys.
On February 17 attendance for children eligible for free school meals stood at 83.2% compared to 90.4% for those not eligible, the welsh Government figures show.
Separate data from Public Health Wales shows that in the week to February 17 there were 587 Covid cases in schools, most of them in primaries, compared with 1,390 the week before.
Teachers and teaching unions have expressed concern about children's deteriorating behaviour and inability to socialise and learn together after two years of lock downs and pandemic disruption.
Attendance by school year group February 14-17
Reception - 91.0%
Year 1 - 92.1%
Year 2 - 92.4%
Year 3 - 92.5%
Year 4 - 92.3%
Year 5 - 91.7%
Year 6 - 91.7%
Year 7 - 90.7%
Year 8 - 89.8%
Year 9 - 88.5%
Year 10 -87.8%
Year 11- 86.9%
Year 12 -83.4%
Year 13 -76.2%
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