The local authority deserves the highest praise for its work in tackling truancy. Whilst it is extremely sad that court action should be necessary in the pursuance of parental responsibility, hopefully the recent prosecutions will send out a clear message.

Bradford council is rightly affording high priority to the fight against truancy, and it has demonstrated quite clearly that it is prepared to take whatever steps are necessary to combat the problem.

It would be totally unrealistic to expect a parent to be able to precisely track the every move of their child 24-hours-a-day - however much they would like to - and there are bound to be occasions when truancy goes undetected within a home.

But for any parent simply to turn a blind eye is irresponsible in the extreme, and is unforgivable.

Every child deserves an education and merits a guiding hand if or when they are tempted to go astray.

The fact that truants are missing out on schooling is bad enough in itself, but surely of equal concern is the potential danger they are placing themselves in.

Outside the relatively protected environment of the school, children are at far greater risk of falling into crime or getting involved in activities which put their own health and safety in jeopardy.

Schools and Bradford's Education Directorate offer a vast amount of help and support to parents whose children have truancy problems. It is an unfortunate irony that those parents with no interest in their child's welfare, and who most require that help, are least likely to seek it or welcome outside intervention.

Whilst we applaud the dedicated work of the anti-truancy team and the considerable success it has achieved, let us hope that its message is not wasted.