Wa, (Upper West) 9 Sept.,

Stakeholders in education have been urged to adopt appropriate strategies and programmes to make education the highest priority in the Upper West Region's development agenda. Alhaji Amidu Sulemana, Upper West Regional Minister, who made the call at Wa today, regretted that some citizens ''cannot accept education as the liberator of ignorance and backwardness". ''Such citizens rather consider the acquisition of wealth as their primary goal in the society'', Alhaji Sulemana said. He was speaking at a forum which deliberated on girl-child education and community involvement in the implementation of the Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education (FCUBE) programme . The forum was organised by the Upper West Regional Coordinating Council and the Ghana Education Service (GES) to find solutions to factors militating against effective teaching and learning in the region. Sixty-three stakeholders including members of parliament, district chief executives and educationists from the region attended the forum.