WE have always argued that the cost of depriving children of their right to a good education is paid in later life, with poor employment prospects and difficulty in coping with below average literacy and numeracy skills.
But for parents who persist in taking children out of school, or encouraging them to play truant, there is a starker emphasis on costs today - the price hitting their pockets with news of £50 fines.
In many respects, the penalty does not match the
loss suffered by children who miss out on time in school.
However, we hope that revelation that Sheffield education authorities are not faking when they say they will punish parents is enough to make mums and dads realise they have no right to keep their offspring away from the classrooms for any reason.
Training results are answer to criticismEVERYTHING stops for tea...but not if you are a student with Sheffield Positive Action Training Consortium
For auditors have criticised SPATC's practice of allowing people on courses, which teach such subjects as IT skills and English, to break for a cuppa.
This is just one of a range of objections from auditors, which has perplexed those behind the training organisation - and there are pledges for an inquiry.
We hope this reaches a swift and amicable solution. SPATC has carried out much worthwhile work over the years and there are plenty in Sheffield who will vouch that this is the case, showing that they have taken added skills with them into later life, and gaining extra benefits there.
A warm welcome?IT'S official...you can put the barbecue away and start thinking about putting the central heating on again. Weather experts tell us that August will be wet and dull and that the chances of an Indian summer are pretty remote. And you thought the one good thing about global warming would be the promise of long, hot, lazy days until just before the Christmas hols?
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READ MOREBack to main news index.Latest video reportsTraffic and travel information.Check out the jams on Sheffield's traffic cameras.Today's features.Books of condolence.Pictures.More Barnsley news.More Rotherham news.More Doncaster news.The full article contains 371 words and appears in Sheffield Star newspaper.
