Mr John Kwesi Hobenu, Northern Regional Director of Education, has observed that the enrolment and retention of girls in schools in the region did not see any improvement this year.
He expressed concern about the gender parity index that decreased from 0.88 per cent during 2006/2007 academic year to 0.83 per cent in 2007/2008 indicating a reduction in girls' enrolment.
Mr Hobenu made the observation at the Northern Regional Education Sector Annual Review meeting in Tamale on Wednesday.
The three-day meeting would serve as a participatory forum for stakeholders to assess the overall educational status in terms of achievements, challenges and strategise for improved educational performance.
Some issues to be discussed include, equitable access to education, quality education, education management, education sector financing, science and technology.
Mr Hobenu said in the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE), the region recorded 53.6 per cent pass in 2004 this reduced to 46.1 per cent in 2005 and appreciated marginally to 47.6 per cent in 2006.
He said 21,594 candidates made up of 13,550 boys and 8,044 girls registered and participated in the BECE examinations this year.
Mr Hobenu observed that despite the increase in educational institutions in the region, it still had many children of school-going age not in school.
He said primary school enrolment currently was 377,328 as against the estimated population of 442,927 children between six and 11 years.
"We still have about 65,599 (14.8 per cent) of children in that age group out of school," he added.
Mr Hobenu appealed to Metropolitan, Municipal and District Directors of Education to intensify enrolment drive and called on other stakeholders to support the initiative.
Alhaji Mustapha Ali Idris, Northern Regional Minister appealed to the participants to critically analyse areas that were major challenges for the authorities to address them.
He said challenges to education were many however, when critical and common challenges were identified there could be improvement in education.