Recently, the Education Policy Institute, or EPI, brought forth a worrying issue about “missing” children in schools across England. This report says up to 300,000 children could be not attending school or receiving a suitable education. In fact, that is an increase of 41% from 2017, with teenagers in particular and, especially Year 10 going into GCSEs as the most likely to drop out of school.

The analysis is based on data comparing school and GP registrations, along with the number of pupils in elective home education. The report shows that, by 2023, an estimated 400,000 children are absent from school, which includes those in-home education. After accounting for these home-educated children, the report estimated that approximately 305,000 children were entirely missing from the education system—nearly three times higher than the Department for Education’s (DfE) official estimate of 117,100 children missing education in the 2022/23 academic year.

The EPI calls for emergency actions in this respect. It urges the authorities to ensure that schools have reasons to drop students from their rolls so that it is easy to trace such children, making them not be accounted for in the process. Another call that the think tank has been able to highlight, with regard to these policies, is a mandatory register of out-of-school children-a step the government has vowed to undertake.

The report points out that children who are missing out on education are often those most vulnerable in society to serious harm and poor outcomes. Whitney Crenna-Jennings, the Associate Director for Mental Health, Wellbeing, and Inclusion at EPI, argued that the report’s findings emphasized the need for comprehensive data collection and targeted interventions to cater to the needs of these children.

Other issues raised are about children leaving the state system but do not feature in the data. According to the findings by EPI, those who would be left out of education mostly are marginalized or disadvantaged; this calls for increased investment in mental health services and support to at-risk children.

The Department for Education spokesperson said that the government is committed to dealing with these issues, including registering children not in school, and measures that will guarantee children receive the education and support needed. However, experts say that these steps must be taken immediately before the situation further escalates.