Yendi Municipal Assembly is benefiting from Strengthening Accountability in Ghana Education System (SAGES). Other beneficiary districts include Gushegu Municipal, Naton, Sagnarigu Municipal, Mion and Karaga Districts all of Northern Region. Three other beneficiary regions are North East, Upper East and Upper West Regions. Out of 16 Municipal and District Assemblies in Northern Region, six from the region are benefiting from the USAID/Ghana project for five years starting from April 2023 to 31st March 2028. The consortium is led by CARE Ghana with support of five partners School For Life, AfriKids, Grown Agents, GNECC among others. Mr. Issah Mohammed School Community Engagement and Coordinator for School For Life announced this at a meeting organized by School For Life for School Management Committee (SMC) members, Assembly members, teachers, school pupils of primary school, traditional authorities in the Yendi Municipal Assembly of Northern Region. He said the Ministry of Education had made a significa nt gain in increasing accountability in primary schools but quality of education was a challenge, especially from 2018 to 2030. He said 50 percent of grade 4 children were below basic level in English and 62 percent in Mathematics. According to him absenteeism and lateness had been identified as one of the factors that affecting learning and care in schools. He said Ministry of Education had identified addressing weakness in accountability system as key reform priority for improving learning outcomes in schools. He said Ministry of education had developed education accountability frame work but implementation was not yet fully operational and the purpose of the project was for USAID/Ghana SAGES system strengthening activity was to improve primary education since delivering through institutionalizing accountability in the Ghanaian primary education system. Mr. Issah said the scope of the project included Ministries and Agencies, four regions, Northern, North East, Upper East and Upper West regions, 17 dist ricts, 1,254 schools and communities and 508,269 students. Mr. Amin Abubakari Deputy Director, Supervision of Yendi Education Office reiterated that SAGES was to improve on learning aspect of the primary schools and reminded them that after the meeting there should be awareness creation for the beneficiary schools. He said there would be monitoring with School For Life in the primary schools for the project to be effective with quality. Out of the 116 primary schools in Yendi Municipality, six schools that attended the meeting included Abatey primary, Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) primary, Presby Primary, Balogu Primary, Nashir-deen Islamic Primary schools with their School Management Committees, Teachers, Assembly Members, and some traditional authorities. Source: Ghana News Agency