KEEPING children in the classroom is proving the biggest challenge for a number of schools across Greater Manchester, where truancy rates are among the highest in the country.

According to the government's league tables, 19 schools from the region have some of the highest rates of unauthorised absence in the country.

At St Patrick's RC Primary School, in Collyhurst, 9.4 per cent of pupils are missing from the classroom every day. That's the fourth worst truancy record in the country.

But the school disputes the figure - and told the Manchester Evening News today that truancy was not a problem. They say unauthorised absence actually stands at only one per cent.

Rochdale's St John's RC Primary School, where 8.5 per cent of days are lost through unauthorised absence, ranked as the sixth worst nationally according to the government figures.

Of a list of 200 schools with the worst truancy records in the country, 12 are in Manchester.

And the city's chief education officer David Johnston says it is a problem the authority is working hard to address - with regular truancy sweeps and campaigns designed to stop children staying away from school unnecessarily and to stop parents condoning their child's absence.

Mr Johnston said: ''If children are out of school on a regular basis they are missing out on the opportunities that education can bring. And this is a top priority for us.

''We know from truancy sweeps alone that a lot of absence is condoned and that is something we have to reverse.''

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