Upper West Regional Minister, Dr. Hafiz Bin Salih has stated that poverty could be eradicated from the region through education.

He opined that education is a game-changer and should be pursued by the people in order to increase their economic wellbeing.

Dr. Bin Salih made the statement at Goripie in the Wa East district where he donated 200 pieces of furniture, one thousand note one exercise books, pencils, pens, erasers, two sets of jerseys and 4 footballs to Goripie T.I. Ahmadiyya and Goripie Islamic Primary and Junior High Schools.

‘‘Education is a game-changer. My priority is education. Many households in the Upper West region have been transformed through education. I want to urge all of us to place priority on the education of our wards. If we are able to educate the people of this region, then gradually we are on the way to driving poverty out of our region," he said.

He argued that all the people who are famous from the region are all educated. ‘‘I don’t know of any Upper Westerner who is famous but not educated, he stressed.

Wa East District Director of Education, Aiysha Ibrahim Jinsung, thanked the Upper West Regional Minister for the kind gesture.

‘‘I have been having sleepless nights over calls of inadequate furniture in our schools. So, when I heard the Minister was coming with furniture, I was happy,’’ she stated.

Social media, some months ago was awashed with pictures of pupils of Goripie T.1. Ahmadiyya Primary School seated on the bare floor in classrooms during instructional periods.

Few of the pupils in the pictures that went viral could be seen seated on a single desk and wooden stools brought from home. The rest are crammed and packed like sardines, seated with their backs leaning against the classroom walls with their legs stretched to their elastic limit; a sitting position that a gym instructor will be comfortable with than a classroom teacher or a passerby.

Dr. Bin Salih indicated that the pictures on social media moved him to come to the aid of the kids and the school.

With the donation of the furniture, the Wa East District Director of Education, Aiysha Ibrahim Jinsung expressed her joy and tasked the two beneficiary schools to handle the furniture and the other learning materials handed over to them, with care.