THE number of pupils attending post-primary schools since the restart is falling weekly, new statistics reveal.
Young people returned to the classroom full-time this month.
Since they reopened, several schools have reported positive Covid-19 cases.
Some have closed while others have sent pupils, staff, classes and entire year groups home.
Figures on pupil and staff attendance are being collected to monitor patterns as the new academic year continues.
Overall, the pupil attendance rate for the week commencing September 14 increased by 0.7 of a percentage point to 92.3 per cent since the previous week.
This compares with 93 per cent in Scotland and 86 per cent in England.
The primary attendance rate increased by 3.3 percentage points since the previous week.
However, the numbers attending secondary non-grammar schools has been falling steadily since the start of term - from 94.5 per cent to 90.3 to 88.3.
There has been a similar slump in grammar schools - from 97.1 to 92.6 per cent between August 31 and September 14.
Over the same period, the proportion attending special schools also dropped from 88.8 to 86.3 per cent.
The percentage of teaching staff in schools has remained in and around 95 per cent every week.
