Tamale, June 17, GNA - Alhaji Abdul-Razak Saani, Tamale Metropolitan Director for the National Commission for Civic Education, has revealed th at the Chereponi District has only 53 trained teachers. They handle 52 schools with about 11,660 students. He explained that the situation puts the trained teacher-pupil ratio at one teacher to 220 students; a situation, he said, was impacting negative ly on quality education in the area. Alhaji Saani was speaking to the Ghana News Agency, (GNA) in Tamale, on Thursday, on a research work he was conducting on the State of Education of Girls in Northern Ghana. The research covers the Tamale Metropolis, Nanumba North, Nanumba So uth and the Chereponi Districts. Alhaji Saanui said the Chereponi District has 43 primary schools, ni ne Junior High Schools and one Senior High, adding that, there are, however,

there were a few untrained teachers who assist the trained ones. But, he pointed out that, most of the untrained teachers were not on

the Government's payroll. Alhaji Saani said the district also had only two female teachers, making it difficult for most of the female students in the area to have r ole models hence their inability to progress in education. He observed that the situation in the district was alarming because most of the teachers posted to the area by the Ghana Education Service (G ES) refused to report to there. He, therefore, appealed to the Government, the District Assemblies a nd development partners to take steps to address the situation to give quali ty education to the Ghanaian child. When the GNA contacted the District Chief Executive for Chereponi, Alhaji Mohammed Seidu Issah Abah, he confirmed the situation and said the

District was taking some steps to turn the situation around by sponsoring

about 100 persons in training colleges. They would be bonded to serve in the area after completion. He said some of the untrained teachers were also being given some support to improve upon their teaching skills adding that, "the situation

was negatively affecting quality education in the area".