I wagged schoolfor 60 days to play computer games

A teenager enjoys a console game.

By VANESSA HORSTMAN

A 15-YEAR-OLD boy became so obsessed with computer games that he missed more than a third of the 2004 school year.

The teenager, who did not wish to be named, admitted he wagged more than 60 days of school because he was playing games at an Ipswich internet cafe.

The boy's father yesterday told the QT he sent his son to school each day ? and it was not until he was notified by the school that his son's truancy was revealed.

Meetings were held between the school and boy's family, leading to the family's mistaken belief that the problem had been resolved.

It had not. Three weeks later, the boy's father received a letter saying his son had missed a further 12 days of school without explanation. "We sent him off to school. We thought he was there," the father said.

The boy will return to school this year.

However, his father said business owners should take more responsibility to help parents prevent "wagging'', calling on managers to turn away children if they entered businesses during school hours while wearing school uniforms.

"I thought it was wrong for businesses to do that. They have a duty to the public to turn them away," he said.

"They should be doing what they did when I was a kid. Kids used to wag school to play pinball games. They were told they couldn't be in a certain area at a certain time and if they did they (the pinball parlour) threatened to close down."

The boy said yesterday he was addicted to multiplayer games Counter-Strike and War Craft ? thinking about them at all hours of the day.

The boy's father said addictive computer games created fantasy worlds which encouraged children to spend all their spare time there.

"It's like Dungeons and Dragons, which they had to ban. They get right into these games and have to play them more and more."

A spokesman for Education Queensland said the responsibility fell on parents to ensure their children attend school.

"Parents have a legal obligation to ensure their children attend school, or to organise approved, alternative schooling arrangements," the spokesman said.

"Currently, it is compulsory for children between the ages of six and 15 to attend school."