SYDNEY - Labor has pledged $100,000 in bonuses for schools which demonstrate improved attendance rates and literacy and numeracy standards.

Under the $388 million policy, to be released on Monday, school principals and communities will be able to decide how the money is spent, the Australian newspaper reports.

MELBOURNE - Children who wag school won't be encouraged back to class by Labor's anti-truancy policy, Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young has warned.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced on Sunday that Labor, if re-elected, would prevent truant students from taking part in organised sport unless their attendance improves.

MELBOURNE - Children would be stopped from playing sport on the weekend if they skip school under a truancy plan to be launched by Labor.

Called no school, no play, the policy will be launched with the support of Australia's major sporting codes on Sunday.

SYDNEY - NSW Education Minister Verity Firth has defended the state's rollout of the Building the Education Revolution (BER) program, saying the federal stimulus was delivered quickly and helped save Australia from recession.

NSW has been named the dunce by a report into the delivery of the federal government's building stimulus, recording more than half the complaints, and the highest per square metre cost.