Tuna (N/R), Sept. 14, GNA - A baseline survey conducted in the newly created Sawla-Tuna-Kalba District of the Northern Region has shown that an alarming majority of children-of-school-age in the District were out of school.

A debriefing note from E/E external monitoring team of Ibis West Africa, a nongovernmental organisation (NGO), that conducted the study, said 80 per cent of the children were out of school as at October 2005. Mr James Boromsom, Field Officer of Partners in Participatory Development (PAPADEV), a local NGO operating in the District, announced this during the graduation and honouring of 580 children, who had completed nine months of 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) assisted out-of-school-children to acquire high numeracy and literacy skills within a period of nine months, to enable them to be integrated into formal schools.

It is being implemented jointly by Ibis and PAPADEV in 12 Brifor and 13 Vagla Communities within the District, where more than 45,000 children were out of school according to the baseline study. Mr Boronsom said PAPADEV had collaborated with Ibis to enrol 325 out-of- school-children into formal schools during the first cycle of CEP in 2005, adding that 45 per cent were girls.

He said 580 learners out of the 620 enrolled in 2006 were able to complete the cycle and were awaiting integration into formal schools this academic year. Forty-five per cent of them were girls. He commended Ibis for its funding support, which enabled PAPADEV to initiate the CEP to promote school enrolment in the District.