Despite recent improvements, city schools have been ranked among the worst-performing in the country.
But the city's new chief education officer has promised to turn things round.
Dr Alan Irving, who has overall responsibility for 68,000 pupils and 175 nurseries, primary, secondary and special needs schools, said improving schools would also involve tackling poverty and social problems.
In his first interview, he said: "We will do all we can to support parents getting their children into schools.
"We are trying to remove the barriers to education through improving access to social care and health care."
He also hailed the development of a new scheme to bring social service staff closer to schools.
This is part of a massive overhaul of the city's social work system, which he said would help families in the most deprived areas and boost school results.
Newall Green high in Wythenshawe, which has breakfast and after-school clubs, classes for parents and its own dedicated social worker, is the first working example of this so-called "extended school" model.
But the new education chief still faces a tough task.
The city's attendance record has routinely been among the worst in the country. The truancy rate in Manchester was 1.73 per cent - more than double the national average.
Powerhouse
While the number of students getting good GCSE grades has consistently risen over recent years, Manchester schools were the sixth worst out of 150 authorities, with only 43 per cent reaching the benchmark of five or more A*-C grades.
Dr Irving acknowledged there was a perception that schools needed to catch up with Manchester's role as the economic powerhouse of the north and home to the country's largest campus university as well as several top research institutes.
"Lots of the work going on here is first class, but we need to be more coherent in our development of provision within the secondary sector," he said. A range of measures have been introduced in attempts to fight truancy, ranging from sweeps of the city centre and shopping precincts by welfare officers, as well as prosecuting 92 parents and issuing 281 fixed penalty notices.
Dr Irving was keen to stress the benefits of future plans to rebuild or refurbish city schools and the creation of more privately-funded city academies.
Manchester Academy, formerly Ducie high in Moss Side, is the only school to have been transformed into one of the new breed of schools, which receive é2m from businesses or charities in exchange for a say in how the schools are run.
Manchester city council hopes to find funding for as many as four other privately-backed city academies.
Dr Irving started the é100,000-a-year job in February.
The father of one was a secondary school teacher for 16 years, including time as a head, before taking on a role as schools and young people's director in the Merseyside borough of Sefton.
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