Fooshegu (N/R), April 27, GNA-Alhaji Iddrisu Adam, Tamale Metropolitan Chief Executive, on Tuesday urged citizens of the Northern part of Ghana to invest in their children's education towards the development of the area.

He said: "We will never get out of poverty if we continue to keep our children at home only for them to become liabilities. Let us now fight against poverty and stop talking about it". Alhaji Adam was speaking at a "Global Week of Action on Education" forum, organised under the theme: "Educate to end poverty" at Fooshegu, near Tamale.

ActionAid Ghana, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), in collaboration with the Northern Network for Education Development, SEND Foundation and Oxfam, other NGOs, planned the programme.

Stakeholders of education, attending the forum, will address educational issues such as the plight of school dropouts.

The participants will also be introduced to community mapping to determine the number of children in school and those out of school. Alhaji Adam appealed to the stakeholders to stop politicising education adding: "any attempt to politicise this sector of the economy will affect the people's development ".

He said: "you should rather work assiduously towards changing the negative perception of the people about education while empowering women with credit facilities to support their families".

Alhaji Adam said the assembly had voted 68 million cedis to support 683 students in tertiary institutions, provided infrastructure, furniture and reading and learning materials to schools to promote education in the area.