Photo: RNZ / Rebekah Parsons-King
Schools stood down pupils 25,167 times in 2022 - the highest number in more than 20 years of records, Education Ministry figures show.
The figure was equivalent to almost 3.3 stand-downs for every 100 students, the highest rate on record by a narrow margin.
Stand-downs are the formal removal of a pupil from a school for no more than five days and the figures show 24 percent of the 18,681 young people stood down last year were stood down more than once.
Although stand-downs increased in 2022, the rates of more serious punishments - suspensions and exclusions/expulsions - remained similar to or lower than past years.
Photo: Supplied
Stand-down rates were highest in West Coast at 6.7 per 100 pupils,
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