Girls' schools in Northern Nigeria are not subdivided according to ages in the manner suggested in the first part of my hon. Friend's Question In nearly all Native Administration and Mission Schools, the classes are co-educational. On 31st March, 1940, there were in the Native Administration elementary schools 1,415 girls, as against 1,118 in 1938, and 795 in 1937. In the five Native Administration schools providing specifically for girls there were 179 girls, making a total of 1,594 in Native Administration schools as against 1,309 in 1938. At the same date there were 3,944 girls in Mission schools (3,433 in 1938) which, in the main, provide for southerners living in the Northern Provinces or for non-Moslem areas. The particular need for trained African teachers is recognised, and, as a start to meet this need, a Training Centre was opened at Sokoto in October, 1939, with 21 pupils. The students are mostly young girls who need much help and supervision. Increasing interest has been shown in female education in the Northern Provinces during recent years, and the prejudices against girls' education are now breaking down. There is no special desire for segregation, and in several places where separate girls' classes were formed with a great deal of caution some years ago, the girls now mix and are taught with the boys.