Bolgatanga, Oct. 24, GNA - The Upper East Region needs 1,320 extra classrooms for 46,210 extra pupils enrolled in basic schools at the beginning of the current academic year, due to the introduction of the Capitation Grant and the School Feeding Programme.

Mrs Elizabeth Mwinkaar, Regional Director of Education, who announced this in Bolgatanga, said 1,320 additional teachers, as well as more teaching and learning material would also be required in order to balance the increase in enrolment figures.

She was speaking at a forum organized by the Department of Children of the Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs to celebrate National Children's Day.

She said the total number of pupils enrolled in basic schools in the Region rose from 207,281 in 2005 to 258,491 in the 2006 academic year, registering an increase of 22.3 per cent.

Enrolment figures for boys and girls this year stood at 130,071 and 123,474 respectively, as against 105,868 for boys and 101,413 for girls in 2005, she added.

Mrs Mwinkaar said the figures at hand underscored the fact that Government's introduction of the Capitation Grant and the School Feeding Programme had given a significant boost to school enrolment in the Region.

"In some parts of the region, pupils who had previously dropped out of school due to poverty have returned to the classroom," she noted, expressing the optimism that Ghana would be able to achieve the "Education for All by 2015" target.

The Director observed that with the numerous challenges arising from the Capitation Grant, the way forward in the meantime was to adopt the shift system for schools in the region, explaining that apart from trimming down class size for effective teaching, the strategy would also curtail the incidence of idling on the part of school children. She pointed out that the two Upper Regions deserved additional Teacher Training Colleges to turn out more teachers, and suggested the use of volunteers and retired teachers in the interim, to help improve the staffing situation in schools.

The theme for the celebration was "Enhancing the Survival, Growth, Development, Protection and Participation of the Child."