A study has revealed low levels of competency in the areas of reading and numeracy skills amongst children of school going age in three districts in the Northern Region.

The study surveyed 60 enumeration areas in Kpandai, Sagnarigu and Sawla/Tuna/Kalba Districts covering 1,158 households and 60 schools where 3,209 children aged three to 15 years were reached and 2,371 children aged six to 15 years were assessed.

It found that “94 out of every 100 children assessed in class three could not read a class two level story and correctly solve class two level numeracy questions up to division.”

It also found that “60 out of every 100 children assessed in class six could not read a class two level story and correctly solve class two level numeracy questions up to division.”

The study, which was released at a forum in Tamale, formed part of the Strengthening Citizen Action for Learning and Empowerment (SCALE) in Ghana initiative, conducted by Choice Ghana and Centre for Active Learning and Integrated Development, both NGOs, with support from IBIS in Ghana, now OXFAM.

The SCALE-Ghana initiative seeks to generate reliable and inclusive data on educational achievement of all children through a citizen-led, household-based assessment as the most appropriate mechanism to track the learning progress for all children, regardless of their age, gender or schooling status.

The forum, which brought together stakeholders in education from the three districts, was to amongst others deliberate on ways to help improve education outcomes in the districts.

Mr Adjei Kadiri, Programme Coordinator in-charge of SCALE-Ghana said the study also found that, 14 out of every 100 children on any given day sat on the floor to learn adding “This differs from one district to the other as Kpandai has the highest number of children sitting on the floor at 59 percent.”

Mr Kadiri said despite efforts made, a number of children of school-going age were still out of school in the three districts.

He expressed the need to ensure that not only were all children attending school, but that they were also learning the basics to ensure quality education as well as the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals 4.

Mr Askia Mohammed Prince, Director in-charge of Planning at the Northern Regional Directorate of Education called for improved funding for monitoring and supervision of schools to address the challenges uncovered by the study.

Mr Mohammed Prince also called for effective functioning of school management committees to complement the efforts of the Ghana Education Service to improve education outcomes in the country.

Mr Emmanuel Tatablata, District Chief Executive for Kpandai said the district would convene a meeting on the findings to seek solutions to ensure quality education in the district.