Majority of children still out of school in new District

Tuna, Sept. 13, GNA - A baseline survey conducted by Ibis West Africa, an NGO operating within the newly created Sawla Tuna Kalba District of the Northern Region, has reported that, an alarming majority of children of school-going age in the District were still out of school.

In a debriefing note from Ibis external monitoring team, 80 per cent of school-going age children in the District were out of school as at October 2005.

This was disclosed by Mr James Boromsom, the Field Officer of Partners in Participatory Development, PAPADEV, a local NGO operating in the district, during the graduation and honouring of 580 children who had completed the nine months complementary Education Programme and were awaiting integration into formal schools, at separate functions held in Tuna and Jentlepe recently.

He explained that, the Complementary Education Programme (CEP) involved children out of school and were being assisted to acquire high numeracy and literacy skills within a period of nine months to enable them to be integrated into formal schools. The Programme was being implemented jointly by Ibis West Africa, and PAPADEV, 12 Brifor, and 13 Vagla Communities within the district where over 45,000 children according to the baseline report were still out of school.

Mr. Boronsom stated that, PAPADEV had also collaborated with Ibis West Africa to enroll 325 children out of school in 2005 for the first cycle of the CEP, 45 per cent of the figure being girls. According to him, 620 learners were again enrolled in 2006 with 45 per cent girls out of which, 580 were able to study and complete the cycle and were awaiting integration into formal school this academic year.

He commended Ibis West Africa for its funding support, which enabled PAPADEV to initiate the CEP; promoting school enrolment in the district where attaining free Basic Education being one of the rights of the child was still not a reality. 17 Sept. 07