HEADTEACHERS this week welcomed a government pledge to spend pound;11 million to help 500 secondary schools introduce electronic registration procedures in a bid to combat truancy. John Dunford, general secretary of the Secondary Heads Association, said that the pound;40,000 he spenton implementing such a system while head of a Durham comprehensive, was well worth it. He said: “This is a very effective way of reducing truancy and is also used to monitor pupil attendance through the day, thus reducing the number of lessons missed by pupils.”