Updated March 26, 2020 01:19:15

Photo: The issue of school closures has been hotly debated during the coronavirus pandemic. (Comstock Images: Thinkstock)

Despite pressure from teachers and some doctors, Prime Minister Scott Morrison insists the evidence shows it is better to keep schools open rather than shut them down.

But, as the number of coronavirus cases rockets upwards and Australians adopt other strict physical-distancing measures, many parents are deciding to keep their children at home.

School technology company Compass Education runs a digital roll call service which tracks how many kids show up to school each day.

Its CEO, John de la Motte, says the company's technology is in 1,800 schools, tracking about 1 million students countrywide.

Normally the absentee rate is stable at about 8–10 per cent.

Last week it hit 25 per cent and kept climbing.

On Tuesday, as unions ramped up their campaign to protect teachers from being exposed to the virus, more than half of the nation's schoolchildren did not attend school.

Topics: epidemics-and-pandemics, health, covid-19, diseases-and-disorders, education, schools, independent-schools, primary-schools, private-schools, public-schools, religious-schools, secondary-schools, australia

First posted March 25, 2020 17:14:38