The Cook Islands Ministry of Education plans to prosecute parents in a bid to stop absenteeism in schools.
The Cook Islands News says the ministry will track unexplained absences and use its legal powers to prosecute parents who are without just cause for letting their kids miss school.
The paper quotes an audit and quality assurance director Peter Etches as saying 40 percent of Tereora College students failed to show up for school because of a heavy downpour of rain on Monday morning.
Mr Etches says a recent survey of Rarotonga schools showed that absenteeism is a concern among local principals.
