Effect of female domestic and girls child education in Gwagwalada area council of FCT Abuja
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background to the Study
The education of women, until recently has not
received favourable consideration form most culture in Nigeria. This is because of the influence of culture
on the people as could observed in most states of the federation. In Nigeria,
most communities until recently did not encourage the education of women, and
this is accounted for by the way parents view the education of their female
children. To them, any educated woman would end up being someone else’s wife,
and therefore would be more useful to her husband than to her parents. Because of this, why waste the available
resources of their education? Even now, because of ignorance, it is still
difficult to convince many parents to send their daughters to school. The situation is even made worse by the
religious beliefs and expectation of women in some communities where a woman is
expected to be married within a certain age bracket.
The
girl-child education has been a burning and continues issue in the developing
countries of which Nigeria is one. The girl-child education can be compared to
a coin which has two sides. This is because in the northern part of Nigeria,
the girl-child is not encouraged to go to school, whereas in the Southern part
of the country, reverse is the case. But culturally women are confined to their
traditional roles with lots of sanctions imposed on them either by custom,
norms or religion.
It
has been revealed that the girl-child education has suffered a lot in the society
as cited by Mohammed (2008). This has been the case since independence in 1960.
However, in the sixties, the situation was really break because out of 10
school children that went to school beyond primary 4, only one as a girl.
Missionary activities started in certain parts of northern Nigeria before the
turn of the century. In 1860s, Dr. Baikie of Christian Missionary Society
founded a settlement at Lokoja. A school was opened the same year and
instruction was given in Hausa and Nupe languages right from the beginning.
The
girl-child education in gwagwalada area council
has been lagging behind all this while in terms of education one can
wonder why the situation should persist like this in respects of the light of
the clear provisions in National Policy on
Education
that education is a right for every Nigerian Child. The National Policy on
Education (2004) also has as its 5th objective as the building of a “bright
land full opportunities for all individual”.
Thus,
The National Philosophy of Education of Nigeria is based on “the integration of
the individual into a sound and effective citizen and to provide equal
educational opportunities for all citizens of the Nation at primary, secondary
and tertiary levels, both inside and outside the formal system”.
The global trends have also shown
that Education of girl-child is input like
the:
i.
Universal Declaration in Tehran in 1968 on Human Rights
which stresses education as a right of every individual irrespective of sex.
ii.
The 1960 United Nations Article 10 of the Convention against
women
(CEDAW). Has a major aim of
promoting gender equality in education. The above not withstanding however,
shows the reality on the ground in
Abuja and
Nigeria as a whole that there is the presence of discrimination against
girl-child in the access to basic education. If this trend continues in
gwagwalada area council , the developmental growth of the area would be
hampered.
The
Northern region which is so much dominated by the Hausas who have no interest
in girl-child education as it was viewed exclusively for the male child. The
girl-child was not only denied formal education, but also the Qur’anic education. The few girls that attempted school during
Western education after the amalgamation in 1914 did that under duress.
Most
of the girls grew up believing that life begins with hawking and ends up in
early marriage. While the boys received rigorous training both in formal and
informal education i.e. Qur’anic school, Farming and animal husbandry under the
instruction of their fathers. The girl-child was undergoing training at home
under the supervision of their mothers, they were taught how to take care of
children, prepare food, make clothes, wash utensils and general cleanliness of
their surroundings. Apart from these task, the girls had to assist their
mothers in different trades and were finally prepared for their future roles as
brides.
The problems of the lack of
girl-child education emanates from the root of: Religion, Poverty, Weak father figures and ignorant mothers who knew no better,
Early marriage
There
are regional disparities in the level of girl-child access to basic education.
A recent survey shows that a number of girl-children had no formal education in
post primary schools gwagwalada area council . Even though the case was
slightly ease better than before.
The
enrolment of children to primary, secondary, technical and tertiary
institutions as upheld by Oleribe (2002) also discriminate against female
gender. Male enrolment is more than girls in all levels of education. Out of
the primary schools enrolment indicated an imbalance ratio as only of, in
gwagwalada area council , 41% were girl- child and many ended up not going for
secondary education. In all parts of the state girls lag behind boys in access
to education. It is important to note that despite the progress made towards
girl-child education in the developed and some parts of the world, years of
neglect have left very high illiteracy rates for girl-child in many developing
countries of the world.
Girls
which are to remain in school up to higher institutions have not yet been able
to and the situation arised because parents are not encouraging girl to be
educated. Most of the girls in gwagwalada area council who were of school age and have completed
primary education parades the street hawking items in other to prepare for
early marriage. Even though there are educated girls in Abuja recently, the
number can be much higher if adequate attention is given to eradicate the
problem.
Statement of
the Problem
This
research is female domestic and girls child education in gwagwalada area
council. It quite understands that education is the bedrock of every society
and it requires to be given to all without considering the gender aspects.
The
problem of girl-child education is not a regional, state, National or continent
but a global issue of concerned. Education is the most viable instrument by man
to conquer his environment and charted his destiny. Girl-child education has
been a burning and continuous issue in the developing countries of the world in
which Nigeria is one. Its existing problem in Nigeria more especially in the
Northern part of the country in which gwagwalada area council is one of the states and so it need to be
clearly addressed. The problem as pointed out by Mohammed (2008) ranges from
either girls of school ages hawk goods on the street as parents’ exploit them,
a times, girls were engaged in early marriages, a times as a result of poverty
and financial problem where some parents cannot afford to pay school fees for
their children. In other cases, the problems emancipates from the fact that
some parents considers educating girl child as waste of time for the sake of
gender disparity or inferiority complex.
Girl
child has suffered enough discrimination and is time to eradicates in equality
or unequal right to education and provide equal access to education as
provisioned
in the National Policy on education. Parents needs to be enlighten on the
importance of girl-child education and to be discouraged in engaging girl-child
to early marriage and hawking of goods while teachers should handle girl-child
with cares in school for enrolment and retention purpose in other to achieve
the MDG’s.
It
was based on the problems identified that the researcher therefore develop an
instrument titled female domestic and girls child education in gwagwalada area
council of FCT Abuja
Objectives
of the Study
The
major objective of this research is to find out female domestic and girls child
education in Gwagwalada area council of FCT Abuja
The specific objective are:
i.
To determine if female children are allow to stay at home
for domestic work while their male counterpart go to school
ii.
to determine if there is difference in the opinions of
teachers and school principals with regards to the attitudes of parents’
towards girl-child education in ; Gwagwalada area council
iii.
to determine the influence of school activities on
girl-child education in Gwagwalada area council
iv.
to determine the influence of culture, tradition and
religion on Girl-child Education in Gwagwalada area council
iv.
to determine the influence of government role on girl-child
education in Gwagwalada area council.
Research
Questions
The study attempts to answer the following questions:
1. To what
extent does female children are allow to stay at home for domestic work while
their male counterpart go to school
2.
Is there any significant difference in the opinions of
teachers and school principals on the attitude of parents’ towards Girl-Child
Education in Gwagwalada area council?
3. Is there any
significant difference in the opinions of teacher and school principals as
regards the influence of school activities on Girl-Child Education in Gwagwalada
area council.?
4.
Is there any significant difference in the opinions of
teachers and school principals as regards the influence of culture, religion
and tradition on Girl-Child Education in Gwagwalada area council.?
5.
Is there any significant difference in the opinions of teachers
and school principals as regards the influence on government of Child education
in Gwagwalada area council.?
Significance
of the Study
Research
of this kind is of utmost Value. It is important since it is hoped that the
outcome of the research will help educational planners, school administrators,
teachers, policy makers, parents or guardians and all stakeholders to have a
clear understanding of some fundamental issues related to female domestic and girl-child
education. Through the findings and recommendations of this research, parents
may be more enlightened on their responsibilities towards girl-child education.
It is also hoped that this will in-turn enhance girl-child education which will
lead to their contributions to the development of Abuja and to participate
fully in developing herself, siblings, husband, home and the whole nation and
will not be misused, harassed, subjected and maltreated again. She will not
suffer any further violence again. infact the benefits are innumerable.
Scope and
Delimitation of the Study
This study will cover Gwagwalada area council. The study centers on the Female domestic and girl child
education in Gwagwalada area council, therefore its findings are mainly to the
area of the study. Due to time and financial constraints, the study is
delimited to cover five street or divisions
