Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe LONDON, Sept. 18 (UPI) -- British tour operators are providing discounted child fares for a government initiative to reduce "middle-class truancy" -- or children on vacation. The tour operators are set to offer child discounts or free passes for children during school vacations or breaks, to coincide with a U.K. school clampdown on parents taking their children on trips abroad and having them miss school, reported the Sunday Telegraph. Advertisement The Every Lesson Counts program offers special deals for winter breaks and summer holidays next year. The idea is to eliminate an excuse parents have used to take their children away while school is in session -- school vacation travel price increases. "Taking a holiday during term-time can mean children miss important school time and coursework," said a Department for Education and Skills spokesman. "A holiday during classes is all too often seen as the rule. It should be the exception." About one-sixth of all school absences were due to traveling students, education officials said.
