Absenteeism, according to

Merriam-Webster dictionary
means chronic absence. In the
context of the school it is the
habitual or intentional failure from
going to school. It cannot be
denied that every now and then,
students may miss some school
activities and lessons. But it
becomes a problem if the student
will be away from school for
many days.

Absence nowadays cannot be

separated from the individual
who was called a student. this
absence of phenomena, it is
easy to see even likened it has
become a necessity in the nature
of the students. So it is not
surprising if this habit continues
to fall proceeds among school
students as examples of primary,
secondary and even at university
level, the problems still persists.
According to the (Maburger,
2011) states that the difficulty
inferring the effect of
absenteeism on performance
because, once a student is
absent in a class, he or she may
miss the opportunity of learning
other techniques. He found out
that missing in class progress the
likelihood off missing
examination material covered
that day compared to the
student who were present in the
class.
Going to school regularly is
crucially important for a student's
education and social skills.
Chronic absentee students are
placed at a disadvantage both
socially and academically. They
miss out on critical stages of
social interaction and
development with their peers and
at the same time impacts
negatively on their academic
progress. This can result to low
self-esteem, social isolation and
dissatisfaction that could well
have precipitated non-
attendance in the first place.
School absenteeism is an
alarming problem for
administrators, teachers, parents
and the society in general, as
well as for the pupils in particular.
Unaccepted absence has a
negative effect on peer
relationship which could cause
absence. According to Malcolm,
Wilson, Davidson and Kirk
(2003) teachers identified effects
of absenteeism on children as:
academic under- achievement,
difficulty in making friends which
could lead to boredom, loss of
confidence. Also, prolonged
absence can have deleterious
effects for the child in later life.
Students who are absent from
school are at the greatest risk of
dropping out of school early.

Absenteeism also affects the

teacher's ability present class
work in a sequential and
organized way. This can have an
effect on the progress of all the
students attending the class.
The families of habitual
absentees can also suffer. For a
poverty-stricken family, it may
mean a continuation of the
poverty and unemployment cycle
that may run in the family. This
also contributes to family
conflicts.

The society also suffers as the

children of school age hang
around in the streets. They can
be found just gallivanting around.
Since they have nothing to do,
they resort to petty crimes like
stealing other people's
belongings and properties.
Others may resort to drug
addiction and other behavior that
is detrimental to society. Thus, if
the student keeps on being away
from school for too long, he may
grow up to be a liability of his
community and of his country as
a whole.

It is the aim of every school to

lessen, if not
eradicate absenteeism among its
students. One way of addressing
this problem is to identify the
causes why students become
truant from school. Once they
are singled out, understood and
analyzed, specific actions and
measures can be undertaken.
This will eventually redound to
the better performance of the
students, teachers and the
school in general.