A child being mercilessly bullied in the schoolyard. A student with anxiety and ADHD who struggles to walk into a crowded, noisy classroom. A mortified teen who’s had an embarrassing photo shared with their entire grade.

Such experiences are common. For some kids, they make going to school feel impossible.

It’s called school avoidance, sometimes even school phobia. It happens when school does not feel safe and staying home becomes a form of self-protection.

It is one factor experts say is driving an increase in absenteeism that a CBC investigation has found is happening across the country.

The type of absence that increased the most were reported illnesses, which were up compared to five years ago in every district that tracked them. In some places, they more than tripled, even when in

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