In the past, education has not necessarily been a priority for the girl-child because of cultural beliefs, poverty and so on. It is believed that the place of the girl-child is in her husband’s house. The male child was considered to be superior to the gild-child in many aspects especially education and that is why in most cases; only the male child had access to education. Unfortunately, many people still hold unto this disparity between the female and the male gender.
Other causes for the negligence of the girl-child education could be attributed to parent’s unwillingness to send the girl-child to school. Some parents feel it is a waste to educate the girl-child because she would one day be married to someone else. Even when they have the means to educate her, they would always refrain from doing so.
Ignorance and illiteracy of the parents also account greatly for the negligence of the girl-child education. When the parents are illiterate and ignorant of the western education, they would find no reason why the girl-child should be given equal right with the boy-child. This is because their mentality and attitude is been influenced by what they see around them and the ancient beliefs.
In a situation where the parents are poor, they would always choose to use the little resources to take the boy-child to school and allow the girl-child to either hawk or engage in other activities. The question is,
why this disparity between the boy-child and the girl-child?
The girl-child also needs to be educated to acquire knowledge and skills needed to advance her status – knowledge for social interaction, self improvement and status advancement. The girl-child education also prepares her to face the reality in the society and teaches her to be a good wife and mother.
Education would also help the girl-child to develop civic sense and learn to respect, love her fellow human beings and to be a good and patriotic citizen. It will also make her to think, question and judge independently.
By Wubon Hebrews Isaac,,,culled from daily independence
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