A couple of Tasmania have pleaded guilty to keep their son away from school.

The couple, Geoff and Hannah Briggs, said they kept their 11-year-old child from going to school because they were afraid of the boy's life-threatening allergies. Appearing before the Magistrates Court , Davonport, they were charged with one count of disrupting their child's education.

According to ABC News, the Education Department indicated that the child was kept inside the home for more than five years, during which time he was not allowed to attend school. The parents feared that their son's health would suffer due to severe allergies that he might develop from exposure to school.

A sentencing will take place later.

A recent survey found that food allergies are rising in school-attending children. The highest increase was found in kids who had allergies to peanuts, according to the Journey of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

Despite the notion that everyone needs an education, exposure to a multitude of viruses are taking a toll on the ability of students to attend school, particularly in Asia. With the introduction of new strains of viruses like Bird flu, and a string of viral fevers, students sometimes spent more days out of school than in school.