Normally, teenagers dream of being able to send their parents off into the sunset for a break but not this boy from Galway. A judge has ruled that due to his poor school attendance record, he must choose which parent goes to jail and which gets a suspended sentence.
The 15 year old appeared before Judge Alan Mitchell after he missed 91 school days out of 114, according to the Irish Independent. The unnamed boy has had a history of skipping school days and was made aware how this would affect his parents if he continued.
Judge Mitchell commented: “He can consider which of his parents he wants to go to prison for 21 days and which gets the suspended sentence. If every teenage child could direct whether to go to school or not there would be anarchy in this country.”
The parents of the teenager had previously been summoned to the court but the father didn’t even turn up, resulting in a bench warrant being issued for him.
Paul McCavera, a city education welfare officer with the National Education Welfare Board added that support had been offered to the family previously, both inside and outside the school, leading him to believe that not everything had been pursued by the family to encourage him to attend his classes.
The matter was adjourned until today with Judge Mitchell ruling that: “If every teenage child could direct whether to go to school or not there would be anarchy in this country.”
