Stricter absenteeism rules had little effect on British students after truancy rates rose 33 percent. The British government has spend almost $2 billion to overcome the problem, but 63,000 more British students skipped classes in the '06-'07 school year, compared to '05-'06.

Family holidays and ailments topped the list of the reasons why British pupils skipped school. Schools Minister Kevin Brennan said 3.47 percent of the absences were attributed to illness, especially among female students and poor pupils on free school meals. This was followed by family holidays which accounted for 0.7 percent of the absences. The family holidays ate up 6.8 million schools days, although 90 percent of the students who availed of this had the school's permission.

Overall, more than 270,000 school children were considered persistent absentees. They missed at least 20 percent of their classes.

Brennan sad he will write to all local authorities to step up the pressure on students fond of missing their classes. The schools must probe into the causes of the frequent absenteeism, make sure the pupils follow school regulations on attendance and make parents accountable for their children's tardiness and absences.

The schools minister said by 2011, the schools should target to reduce truancy rates by at least one-third of current levels.

The Shadow Children's Secretary Michael Gove took the release of the truancy data as an opportunity to hit the government. "Ministers have completely failed to get a grip of the problem. Yet again the latest figures have prompted more excuses and complacency," he said.

Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, said the school had done its part, but "there continues to be a hard core of a few persistent truants, because these are the children and young people who are totally disengaged from school, often with difficult and chaotic home lives and from families with financial problems."

Bousted added, "Their reluctance to go to school is further compounded by continuous testing which repeatedly brands them as failures from seven upwards."