The district has 44 Day-care centres, 101 schools, 24 Junior Secondary Schools and 2 Senior Secondary Schools at Nakpanduri and Bunkpurugu. Most of these schools are concentrated in the big towns and the structures are dilapidated. About 63.3% of primary schools do not have permanent structures and 91.6% Junior Secondary Schools. See appendix A. The total enrollment in Primary, JSS and nursery were 15,711, 2,970 and 3,023 in 2004 and 17,534, 4,104 and 4,081 in 2005 respectively.

Male enrollment always exceeds female enrollment as the situation analysis points out. The Bunkpurugu\Yunyoo district had a total pupil enrolled in 2004 as 2970 at the JSS category with females being 40% of total enrollment and males representing 60%. For 2005, total enrollment at the JSS category was 4104 pupils and female share of enrollment constituted 39% which shows a drop of 1% compared to 2004. 61% was the portion male enrollment in 2005 and this was an increase of 1% compared to the 2004 enrollment.

The results reveals that for the period, girls’ enrollment saw an increase in absolute terms but percentage share for boys’ enrollment was still higher. Total enrollment in the district shows an increase of 38% over the period and this was quite encouraging.

A high responsibility is expected of the district education unit and all other stake holders in the education sector to put in concerted efforts at ensuring increase enrollment in the years ahead. Especially at a time the capitation grant has been introduced in the education sector, parents have no other excuse than to send their wards to school.

The number of pupil who completed primary school in 2004 was 3208 whiles 3086 completed in 2005 representing a decrease of 3.95% over the period. Girls who completed primary school in 2004 show a percentage of 31.10%. In 2005, girls’ share of total completion was 32.76% showing a marginal increase in the rate of completion. In both cases Boys who completed primary school were several times more than Girls. Indicating, girls after enrollment into primary school, for several reasons, they are unable to remain in school until completion. This calls for drastic measures at ensuring the retention of girls in school.

Teachers for all categories in the district in 2004 were 390, out of which 68.2% of the total were in the primary category Female teacher population represented only 12.30%.

The number of trained teachers in the district was 200 representing 51.28%. Teachers for 2004 was almost even and this in no doubt can undermine quality teaching and learning in the district. The pupil to teacher ratio for 2004 was approximately 1: 56.Meaning every teacher in the district had the burden of handling on the average 56 pupils. In 2005, the district had a total of 458 teachers which was 17.43% increase over 2004 out of which 69.65% were in the primary school category which again show more teachers in the primary category than the others.

The number of teachers at the JSS category was 116, whiles 23 teachers were at Early Childhood Development centers. Total number of trained teachers in the district was 284 representing 62% whiles female teachers’ represented 12.22% of the total number of teachers in the district. Pupil to teacher ratio for 2005 was approximately 1: 56. Every teacher in the district for 2005 also had the burden of handling 56 pupil and this did not show a change in the level of responsibility compared to 2004 even though enrollment for the period also increased by 18.49%. The increase in the number of teachers in 2005 therefore did not make a significant impact.

The bedrock of every nation’s development is education and teachers constitute the pivot around which every policy in the education sector evolves. Because no matter how good and comprehensive a policy is, in the educational sector without teachers, no such policy can be effectively implemented. It was therefore appropriate to determine the response of teachers when posted to the district. The study also determined the extent to which the rights of children were protected in terms of access to quality education and health.

Lack of access roads is some factors discouraging teachers from accepting posting to the area. However table 16 reveals a positive picture on the protection of children right in the district in terms of access to education. 224 respondents representing 80.0% indicated that children rights in the district were duly protected especially when it comes to sending their children to school

This situation could be attributed to the people understanding that education forms the basis for the development of their communities hence the need to send their children to school. Also the response generally on the participation of communities in the activities of schools was good based on the people attendance to PTA meetings and school gatherings that parents and guidance are usually called upon.

J.S.S Students qualifying to S.S.S

The Bunkpurugu\Yunyoo district recorded a total of 260 J.S.S students who qualified to the S.S.S in 2004 while 323 qualified in 2005. It indicates a percentage of 10.8% increase over 2004.Proportion of girls who completed in 2004 was 25.3% and a proportion of 30.0% completed in 2005.

The education sector in the Bunkpurugu\Yunyoo district received a budgetary allocation of ¢82,000,000 for 2004 and ¢312,563,700 was voted for 2005 meaning the budget went up beyond 100% in 2005, even though in both years what was actually budgeted for was all spent.

Key Development Issues

1. Low enrollment at the basic level and High drop out rate

2. Low performance at the basic and secondary school levels

3. Inadequate and dilapidated infrastructure( both basic and secondary)

4. High Pupil- Teacher ratio

5 .Low capacity of District Administration, PTAs and SMCs

6. Inadequate Technical and Vocational skills

7. Inadequate means of transport for monitoring and supervision

8. Lack of Teaching and Learning Materials

9. Inadequate water and sanitation facilities in schools

10. Lack of recreational facilities

11. Lack of permanent office and residential accommodation for the staff of the District Education Office.

12. Lack of office equipment