Students walk out of school over principal’s truancy comments

More than 100 students walked out of a Hamilton high school in protest after the principal said truants are more likely to wind up being a rape victim.

Principal Virginia Crawford told a Fraser High School assembly last week that truants were also more likely to go to prison and commit or be a victim of domestic violence.

She said the more a student was truant, the more likely they will end up a statistic.

The students filed out of the school and up the drive to the road just before 10am. They spent the next 40 minutes hanging around in groups on either side of the street.

Some students said they felt strongly that the principal had used language that probably was too strong and not appropriate for schoolchildren.

One student, Sih Hunia, said many of those protesting just wanted to stand up for themselves. He said Ms Crawford should have toned down her comments.

The school, which has a roll of about 1500, has made no comment on the protest.