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Gamers are fuelling a truancy spike as young Brit kids skive off school

Young Brits are skipping school and fuelling a fresh truancy crisis by emulating social media stars who became rich playing video games online

[Young gamer shouting at his screen with a headset on]

Gamers are fuelling a new British truancy crisis(Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Gamers who boast about skipping school online are fuelling a bunking crisis.

Pupils told researchers they want to be like social media stars who have become rich despite skiving off when they were younger.

It comes as Britain is suffering a truancy crisis with a record number of kids skipping more than half of lessons.

The research for the charity Impetus, said the online world presents pupils with alternative definitions of success beyond school and makes the classroom feel irrelevant or outdated for some children.

Researchers added these examples were not just entertainment, they were genuinely seen as credible alternatives.

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Plenty of gamers boast about becoming rich despite missing school(Image: Getty Images)

The study by political consultancy Public First, from interviews with 60 pupils aged 14 to 15, found many are shunning school because they spend too long on social media and online gaming at night.

It also claimed young people are being sucked into a sense of presenteeism online that is making them less bothered about their education.

In 2023-24, 171,269 pupils were severely absent, which means they missed at least 50% of possible school sessions.

And nearly one in five youngsters are persistently absent, meaning they miss at least a day of lessons each fortnight.

In 2018-19, the last academic year before the Covid crisis, 60,247 were classed as severely absent.

It comes after education secretary Bridget Phillipson last week urged parents to step up to tackle absence rates.

She said mums, dads and carers need to do more to ensure pupils attend class each day.

Last year, the government announced council chiefs have to keep a mandatory register of children not in school to ensure fewer young people slip under the radar.

Under the new duty, local authorities will also be required to provide support to parents who home-school their nippers.

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