Brussels School Absenteeism Surges Past 25 Percent

Brussels is grappling with a significant rise in school absenteeism and early school leaving, with a quarter of secondary school students missing too much class in the 2024-2025 academic year. This translates to 20,500 students whose education is being disrupted by excessive absences. The problem is particularly acute in certain municipalities, with Sint-Joost reporting over a third of its secondary students frequently absent, starkly contrasting with Sint-Pieters-Woluwe's tenth.

Compounding this issue, nearly one in five students, approximately 18%, failed to graduate with a diploma. While the rate of early school leaving in Brussels has improved since before the COVID-19 pandemic, it remains a persistent challenge. Municipalities like Sint-Gillis and Sint-Joost face the highest proportions of students not completing their secondary education, with up to a quarter of students in Sint-Gillis not finishing school.

The statistics, compiled by the Brussels statistics office BISA and the government service perspective.brussels, highlight that problematic absenteeism is largely an urban issue. Although Brussels faces these challenges, other Belgian cities like Charleroi and Liège report even higher rates of absenteeism and early school leaving. The data distinguishes between passive absenteeism, where students lose interest but still attend, and active absenteeism, which is the focus of this report.