Towards Achieving Sustainable Development in Nigeria: The Girl-Child Education Factor

It is the dream and aspirations of every nation to achieve development. Hence, the policies and laws of any nation whether developed or developing is geared towards achieving development in every sector. To promote socio-economic development globally, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals were signed (SDGs). The SDGs are the seventeen goals set and signed by the 193 UN member nations in 2015 and agreed to be achieved by 2030. They represent a shared commitment by all member countries of which Nigeria is one to promote and ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and life-long learning opportunities for all, good health and well being for all, gender equality and empowerment of women and girls among other time-bound goals through partnership. Before the SDGs were the eight Millennium Development Goals which were signed in 2000 by 189 heads of state to eradicate inter alia hunger and poverty, diseases, gender inequalities etc. Four years after the 2015 target of the MDGs and four years into the SDGs 2030 target, there is still gender disparity in access to quality education between the boy-child and the girl-child in favour of the former in many countries including Nigeria. This paper therefore examines and tries to find answers to the following questions: (a) how do respondents perceive girl-child education? (b) What factors pose the greatest challenge to gender parity in access to quality education and training in Nigeria? The paper concludes with cogent recommendations.

Education and the achievement of national development through girl child empowerment in Nigeria

Education plays a very pertinent role in promoting development, as it is concerned with imparting knowledge, skills, attitudes, belief systems and values. This paper focuses on the utilization of the girl child education as an effective tool to foster national development. It conceptualized education, girl child education, empowerment and National Development. The theory of functionalism was adopted to offer credence to the paper. This paper vividly explicates how various negative attitudes and negligence towards the girl child education in African continent in general and Nigeria to be specific has exacerbated poverty, illiteracy and untold hardship on the citizenry. It further unraveled the strategies for using girl child education as an instrument for national development thereby eradicating poverty in Nigeria. Based on the issues raised in the paper, as education remains a formidable weapon of socio- economic development of any nation, the paper recommends the need for change in the Nigerian policy towards education, especially the girl child education by improving public budget in education, improve education for self-reliance, to enhance educational efficiency by improving on skills learning via entrepreneurship education and building of critical and objective reasoning, and girl child empowerment.

Prioritizing Quantity over Quality: Lopsided Approach to Girl Child Education in the Bihar Government’s Schemes

Based on a field survey conducted in five districts of Bihar and involving 1,119 respondents, this article examines the role of schemes initiated by the Bihar Government to achieve a dramatic transformation in female literacy. It argues that the schemes, though successful in taking care of economic factors that act as hurdles in the enrolment and retention of girls in schools, suffer limitations in their implementation and also overlook the importance of other factors that impact the girl child’s education, especially at the school level. At the same time, though there is an overemphasis on increasing the number of learners, the issue of quality in education has been grossly neglected. The article concludes that, in the long run, neglecting school-related factors and the quality of education defeats the real purpose of the schemes. Based on the study, some recommendations are also offered to manage the quantity–quality equilibrium in relation to girl child education.

Innovations for Attaining Sustainable Development Goal: Persisting in Schools in Nigeria

The study was carried out to determine challenges of girl child education as regards persistence in secondary education as well as determine innovations that will help to prevent this act in Delta state public secondary schools. It is an expose facto design that employed survey method to obtain the data. The population of the study consisted of 14,877 public secondary teachers in Delta state. The sampling technique adopted was the cluster and random sampling using balloting system. A total number of 744teachers were sampled to form the sample size. The instrument utilized was the Innovation for Attaining Girl Child Persisting in School Questionnaire (IAGCPSQ). Analysis was carried out using descriptive statistics of mean rating, standard deviation. The hypotheses were tested using t- test. The study found the most outstanding challenges of school persistence and the most crucial innovation aimed at encouraging girl child in school. Based on the findings, it was recommended that abrogation of cultural barriers that inhibit girl child education be made, orientating girl child towards the value of education, making school environment friendly to girl child learning, improving living conditions of families amongst others. Received: 19 March 2021 / Accepted: 5 June 2021 / Published: 8 July 2021

Factors that contribute to girl’s dropout in some selected secondary school within Damaturu metropolis, Yobe state

A developing nation without or with low child-girls education is in danger. There is an adage which say whoever trained a girl has a plan for a future generations based on these Factors that contribute to girl dropout in some selected secondary schools, within Damaturu metropolis, was carried out, guided by six (6) objectives and six (6) research questions each. The subjects used in this study consist of teachers, parents and students from ten (10) secondary schools. Random sampling technique was used to select thirty respondents’ one parent, one teacher and one student from each school respectively. The instrument used for this study was questionnaire, frequency and percentage of the response were used to analyse the data collected. The research find out those factors such as poor economic status, broken home, death of bread winner and gender inequality causes girls dropout in secondary school. Other factors include unwanted pregnancy, early marriage hawking, negative behavior by parents, drunker and illiterate parents. Government should provide infrastructure and jobs which will enable parents to take care of their wards. Seminars and workshops should be organize to encourage parents and guidance, scholarships program may be put in place for girl child education and finally non-government organization to come on board to aid girl child education.

Influence of Culture on Girl Child Education in Central Pokot Sub County, Kenya

Cultural practices such as Female Genital Mutilation, early child marriages and patriarchy have been on the rise in West Pokot despite interventions by government and non-state actors over the years. These outdated cultural practices have hindered the progress of girls academically. It is vital to educate the girl-child in society. However, teenage pregnancy gets girls at the wrong time when they are still in schools and this affects their education very much and eventually ends up ruining their future. This paper looks at how various cultural practices have affected girl child education in West Pokot County, Kenya. The study was conducted in Central Pokot Sub County primary schools targeting 12 headteachers and 120 teachers. The respondents were selected through purposive and simple random sampling. Data was collected using questionnaires and interview schedules. Data collected were analysed using percentages and frequencies. The results of the study showed that the status of girl-child education was low. Cultural factors like; early marriages, female genital mutilation, child labour, widowhood practices and taboos influenced girl-child education. The study found out those cultural factors in the study area affected girl-child education negatively as it slowed down their transition, academic performance and also the acquisition of knowledge required at the basic education level. The study recommends that the government should take legal action against parents who take their girl-children for FGM and early marriages; there is a need for awareness on the importance of girl child education, provision of scholarships for girls at basic and tertiary level and introduction of guidance and counselling sessions in schools.

actors Affecting Girl-Child Education among the Kambari of Niger State, Nigeria: A Sociological Perspective

This study examined factors that adversely affect girl-child education among the Kambari. Marx Weber’s social action theory, patriarchy and sex role theories provided the theoretical framework. Empirical data were drawn from a household survey among 1,598 respondents, comprising a pair of adult males (385) and their sons (385) and adult females (414) and their daughters (414). A multi-staged sampling technic was employed to select sample units. Two structured questionnaires were employed for the household survey. Twelve case-studies of girl-children, fourteen in-depth interviews and fifteen FGDs were also conducted among different groups. The data were subjected to descriptive, logistic regression and content analyses. The burden of domestic work, unintended teenage pregnancy, poor academic performance, parental ignorance, child-betrothal and early marriage, son preference adversely affected the girl-child’s access to education. The logistic regression shows that the odds of exhibiting discriminatory practice towards girl-child education are about 6 times higher among adult males compared to the females, 4.2 times higher among participants with no formal education, 4 times higher among adherents of traditional religion and 3 times among Muslims. Further, respondents with rigid conception of gender role are more likely to exhibit discriminatory gender practices as well as those with negative childhood experience, those from homes where men dominate in decision-making and those from homes with non-valuation of women’s participation in decision-making. A holistic approach should be adopted at all levels of government, religious and traditional institutions to address the marginalization of Kambari girl-children in accessing formal education.