The education of the girl child is an important part of every country. That it is a subject for discussion reveals that there is a major problem with education of the girl child in Nigeria and other countries.
People believe girl child education is important
What are the factors militating against the education of the girl child especially in Nigeria? NOIPolls conducted a survey and came up with the following factors:
1. Poverty
According to the poll, 28 percent of people believe poverty is a major factor hindering the education of the girl child in Nigeria.
This is because when it boils down to choosing who to empower educationally amidst scarce resources, many families often consider sending the boy child to school ahead of the girl child, mainly due to the perception that he would be more resilient and work hard to set his family free from poverty.
2. Culture
In Nigeria, culture has a strong bearing on the way of life of the people, for it is in fact their way of life. And in the Nigerian culture the boy child id given precedence. According to the poll, 20 percent of people believe that culture is a major problem.
Inspite of the general consensus on the importance of girl child education to communities, the girl child still suffers neglect and deprivation of basic education, usually sacrificing her chances to the boy child.
This is because when it boils down to choosing who to empower educationally amidst scarce resources, many families often consider sending the boy child to school ahead of the girl child, mainly due to the perception that he would be more resilient and work hard to set his family free from poverty.
Some traditions, especially in this part of the world, are that a woman’s place is in her husband’s kitchen and her primary role centres on her home.
These beliefs have kept many girls away from education as such families’ see investment in girl child education as a waste. Even after some girls narrowly get the education, they face social and cultural barriers to obtaining leadership and management functions because they are women.
Survey results – NOI Polls
3. Parental illiteracy
18 percent of people believe that parental illiteracy is a huge contributing factor. As one of the likely ways to solve the problem of girl child education, 25 percent said they believed that if a parent is enlightened, there is an equal chance that the child, either a boy or a girl, would also be educated.
According to the research, this is a major social problem that has been limiting the girl child’s access to education because an illiterate parent would place less value on education thus making the girl child bear the burden of deprivation.
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4. Child Marriage
Child marriage is pointed to by about 15 percent as another major issue hindering girl child education.
The Child’s Rights Act of 2003 prohibits child marriages and betrothals and section 21 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria outlaws any marriage contracted by anyone less than 18 years old considers it invalid.
Yet, in some part of the country, whenever a girl attains the ages of 12-14, she has come of a marriageable age. Some are eve betrothed at a younger age.
Watch a video of Nigerians speaking on the possibility of a female president here:
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