A new report from the Department of Children reveals a concerning decline in the wellbeing of Irish children. Key findings include a significant drop in happiness levels, a surge in school absenteeism, and persistent bullying issues, particularly affecting vulnerable groups.
The Department of Children report finds that 28.6 percent of 10-17 year olds had been bullied at school in the past couple of months. The proportion of children who are “happy with the way they are” has fallen “substantially” since before Covid, with immigrant children and those with a disability or chronic illness least happy.
In addition school absenteeism has more than doubled at primary level and almost doubled at post primary, with the percentage of 10-17 year olds happy with their lives decreasing “substantially” since 2018, from 88.2 percent to 78.5 percent. The findings are among many in a wide-ranging report, published annually by the Department of Children and titled the State of the Nation’s Children. Prepared by the department’s data analytics section it includes metrics on the estimated 1,232,714 children’s wellbeing, health and social outcomes, relationships and informal and formal supports. In terms of school attendance in 2017-2022 the percentage of primary schoolchildren absent from school for 20 days or more, more than doubled from 12.1 percent to 25 percent, and the percentage of post-primary schoolchildren who were absent for the same length increased from 15 percent to 22 percent. The report finds 28.6 percent of 10-17 year olds had been bullied at school in the past couple of months, down from 31 percent in 2018. Traveller children (42.6 percent), immigrant children (32.6 percent) and children with a disability and/or chronic illness (36.6 percent) were most vulnerable to being bullied, with Traveller children the only group to have reported an increase, from 42 percent in 2018
CHILD WELLBEING BULLYING ABSENTEEISM MENTAL HEALTH IRELAND
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