TRUANT students skipped more than 255,000 days of school last year with no explanation - an average of five days for every state student.
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High school students failed to show up 163,439 times and primary school pupils gave no explanation for 91,831 days off.
An analysis of Education Department data indicates up to 5500 high school students stayed home for 20 school days without a legitimate reason, and up to 1800 primary pupils.
The department refused to provide student numbers, under a Right to Information request, or say how many families had been prosecuted.
Principals confirmed that a number of children stayed home for 40 to 60 days of the school year - or an average of once a week.
One Northern primary school principal said the reasons for absenteeism varied, as did the responsibility of the parents.
"One child was kept away from school because the mother was sick and she wanted her daughter home to look after her younger children. How do you manage that?"
Kings Meadows High School principal Charlotte Marshall said other parents struggled to convince their teenagers to go to school.
"If the family doesn't value education or aren't being firm with their child that's often the hardest to deal with," she said.
All principals believed communication between the school and carers was the key.
Many schools use SMS to chase up missing students, and last month Brooks High School pushed back its start time by half hour to get more students arriving on time.
Education Minister Nick McKim also announced last month that Tasmanian schools would switch from three terms to four in 2013 with frequent and shorter breaks reported to reduce absenteeism.
Mr McKim said Tasmania led the nation on average attendance rates in many grades, but was still looking to improve.
"The department is currently reviewing the legal issues and options around unexplained absenteeism in order to work with parents to increase their accountability in this area," he said.
"It will also aim to share more practical information with students and parents about the importance and requirements of school attendance."
Opposition education spokesman Michael Ferguson said it was time the government took a harder line on parents who failed to obey the law on compulsory school attendance. "This data is no surprise given the government's appalling failed record at prosecuting neglectful parents, cutting student support services and an almost non-existent behaviour management standards at the system level," he said.