A TEACHING union has criticised the Government's latest truancy sweep as a "quick fix".
Mrs Christine Hughes, secretary of the Kirklees branch of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL), said it was nothing more than a PR exercise.
She said: "We have got to look at the social problems that lie behind truancy.
"Schools can only go so far. Sometimes we are fighting a losing battle.
"The ATL is pointing out that there is a deeper problem and we hope that someone addresses it.
"We realise that finding a solution is expensive and would cost a lot more than three weeks patrolling shopping centres."
She claimed the Department for Education and Skills was looking for a quick fix with as much publicity as possible.
She added: "After Christmas, the police will return to the other activities and the truants will return to the streets.
"The Government has again failed to see the root of the problem or does not want to because it does, in fact, understand the true cost."
Gwen Evans, deputy general secretary of the ATL, said: "These truancy sweeps give the Department for Education and Skills useful publicity, some of which may even reach those parents who do not see the need for their children to be in school all day, every day.
"But such intermittent activity does nothing to deal with the underlying social problems which are such a powerful barrier stopping vulnerable young people from the education achievements they so desperately need."
