Children who refuse to go to school due to bullying and other reasons miss an average of 18 months to two years of class, according to a recent report by the education ministry.

In its first large-scale survey of parents of truants aged between 6 and 15, the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry found that older kids tend to stay away from school longer.

It found that most parents face misunderstanding and prejudice from other people, in addition to being worried about the future of their children.

The survey covered some 3,400 parents and other guardians. Of the respondents, 91 percent of whom were mothers, 80 were parents of junior high school children.

The poll, commissioned to Ochanomizu University assistant professor Minako Ito, was much larger than one conducted in 1992, during which the ministry interviewed some 300 parents.

Of the respondents, 60 percent had children who did not go to school and 21 percent said their children went to school at least three days a week.

A quarter of the respondents said they feel they have been snubbed by teachers, who failed to visit their homes to discuss the truancy problem or otherwise did not maintain sufficient contact, and 14 percent said they were dissatisfied with the way school authorities deal with bullying and violence at school.

After their children stopped going to school, 77 percent of the respondents said they have received visits from teachers and 10 percent said they had received visits from college student volunteers.

The ministry plans to further scrutinize the data and take countermeasures to curb truancy, officials said.