Attendance levels at NSW public schools have dropped to just 5 per cent as more parents opt to keep their children home from school.
A Department of Education spokesman responding to a question from the Leader said initial statewide figures indicated that only 5 per cent of students attended a NSW public school site on Friday, April 3.
It comes as the NSW Department of Education decided not to follow the lead of Sydney Catholic Schools and bring forward the school holidays.
Instead, public school students across the state will continue to learn remotely until term one officially ends this Thursday.
Catholic school students across Sydney got an early mark when Sydney Catholic Schools decided to suspend lessons from last Friday, effectively giving its students an extra long Easter holiday break.
Catholic school teachers will use the next few days as staff development days to prepare remote learning lessons for next term, a spokesman said.
A NSW Department of Education spokesman said last week the current term dates would remain in place.
Both public and Catholic schools across St George and Sutherland Shire remain open for parents who need to send students to school.
Both Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Australia's Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy have continued to state it is safe for children to attend school.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian announced on March 23 that parents should keep their children home from school if possible, but said schools would remain open to support parents.
Sydney Catholic Schools and many independent schools followed suit, and moved to remote learning models that week.
