Absences increasing in B.C.’s biggest school districts

Students in B.C.’s biggest districts are missing significantly more school in recent years, with absences having tripled in some places, an exclusive CBC News analysis has found.

Experts say the increases are significant because the more school students miss, the less likely they generally are to graduate.

In the Vancouver School Board, the number of excused absences — such as illness for which the reason was communicated to the school by a parent — doubled in elementary school and more than tripled in secondary school between October 2018 and October 2025.

This compares with a two per cent increase in the number of elementary school students and a four per cent increase in secondary school students.

The attendance data, which was collected as part of a national CBC News investigation into school absences, was released by the board in a Freedom of Information request.

Unexcused absences, for which there is no communication from the parent or guardian, were down by a third in elementary, but increased 86 per cent in secondary school.

However, the data only tells one part of the story, according to Maureen McRae-Stanger, associate superintendent with the Vancouver School Board (VSB).

"Ninety-nine per cent of our students attend in the VSB every single day and I think the numbers that you see, the data that you've collected from us, doesn't tell that whole story," she said in an interview.

"It's less than one per cent of our students who actually have an attendance challenge."

WATCH | More kids are calling in sick in Canada:

Data reveals a rise in students calling in sick

November 22, 2025|

Duration 2:25

An exclusive CBC News analysis shows more students are calling in sick across Canada compared to five years ago.

There is no one single reason for the increases, according to Silvana Guglielmetti, manager of the Pathways to Education Program in B.C., which helps students in Grades 8 to 12 stay engaged with school. She works primarily in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside and Strathcona neighbourhoods and Whalley and Guildford in Surrey.

Increasing affordability struggles for many families have affected school attendance, she says.

“When you don't have food security … you don't have housing security, you struggle to pay for your internet and then all your assignments are online. That's how you need to submit things … but you don't have money. You need to work from your little phone to, you know, send your assignments to school. Those things continue to increase the barriers.”

Sometimes older students need to work to contribute to household income, or take care of younger siblings while their parents work, she adds.

Another factor is that students with learning differences “feel a bit like a square peg in a round hole.” If their condition is undiagnosed or the necessary supports are not in place, Guglielmetti says this can lead them to miss school.

LISTEN | Absences up in Central Okanagan since pandemic:

Daybreak South12:05The number of kids calling in sick has exploded since the height of the pandemic

Jon Rever is working to reduce absenteeism in Kelowna schools because it has more than tripled since the pandemic and is causing problems for kids and teachers. He is the superintendent of school district 23 in the Central Okanagan.

This is lived experience for Burnaby mother Dayna Brassard.

All three of her children have autism. Her youngest, now 11, started kindergarten in 2019. The pandemic hit six months later, so there was “anxiety right off the bat,” she explained.

His brain took longer to process things and he got frustrated, which resulted in “epic meltdowns” that were difficult to deal with, Brassard says.

The school put in one-on-one support, which Brassard called “well-intentioned” but added “what the school is trained in and allowed to do didn't necessarily fit his needs.”

As a result, Brassard says her son spent increasingly less time in school.

“It was never a full week and he would get there usually after lunch.... He would very rarely be in the classroom and if he was it wasn't for the entire time.”

Burnaby was another district that saw absences increase significantly.

The district provided data on chronic absence, meaning the percentage of students who missed 10 per cent or more of the school year. For secondary school in Burnaby it is 15 per cent or more.

The chronic absence rate more than tripled in elementary school between 2018-19 and 2024-24 and more than quadrupled in secondary school.

The Central Okanagan district, which includes Kelowna, also saw significant increases in absences, especially in middle school and high school, according to data released by the district in an FOI, with some of the numbers starting to come down over the last year.

And in Surrey, B.C.’s largest district, average monthly absences were consistent in elementary school between 2021-22 and 2024-25, but increased in secondary school.

In Vancouver, schools move quickly to put supports in place when staff notice attendance starting to slip, McRae-Stanger says.

"Is the child struggling with peer relationships? Do they need to actually connect with the trusted adult? Do we want to have someone welcome them each day and do a check in?"

"So we can do a lot of different things based individually on student and parent needs and will be very proactive about that when those issues come to our attention."