Speaking with the Svenska Dagbladet (SvD) newspaper, education minister Jan Björklund says the proposal will become reality starting with the spring term in 2010 or 2011.

Truancy will be recorded in students’ term-end report cards, but no on their final transcripts.

The government has previously acknowledged its wishes to account for cutting class along with students’ grades.

However Björklund’s comments mark the first indication that the government wants to make it a requirement.

Several details must be worked out first, such as what counts as an unauthorized absence and whether rules in Sweden’s school law or high school decree need to be rewritten.

Schools in the city of Stockholm have already implemented a system which records unauthorized absences.