Negative Effect of Discrimination against Girl-child Education in Nigeria

It is a known fact that education is a necessary key to success in life. Its availability gives everyone equal opportunity to succeed in life. Some of the goals of education are to teach cultural literacy and to help people become critical thinkers. In Nigeria, education has been adopted as an instrument par excellence, for effecting national development. Its philosophy is based on building a sound and effective citizenry and the provision of equal opportunities for all citizens at the primary, secondary and tertiary levels, both inside and outside the formal school system. Education of women were frownedat by many people in the past. Women were meant to be seen, not to be heard; and their place was in the kitchen only. Unfortunately, some people still hold this ideology ignorantly or for some reasons. The oppression of women in the family is location in their roles as house wives, one, who give birth, look after the family-giving it that primary nourshiment which is necessary for the members of the family to fill their places and perform their roles in the society at large. According to Eleanor Burke Leacock, a cultural anthropologist, "in some ways it is the ultimate alienation in our society that the ability to give birth has been transformed into a liability". Women in pre-colonial Africa had numerous important roles and functions to carry out, many of which conferred a great deal of power and respect on them. But at the commencement of colonialism, rigid binaries about everything including gender perceptions were imposed on the African mind. Thereafter, the woman's role has come to be limitedto sexual and commercial labour; satisfying the sexual needs of men, working in the fields, carrying loads, tending babies and preparing food. It's importantto note that a society made up of illiterate women is an illiterate society. A developing nation like Nigeria therefore, cannot afford to neglectthe role of women in nation building. Interestingly,many people are now becoming aware of the importance of education of women.

Educationplays a particarly important role as a foundation for girls' development towards adult life. Basic education provide girl childs and women with an understanding of basic health, nutrition and family planning, giving them the power to make fundamental decisions and choices about their lives and bodies. Women's education leads directly to better reproductive health, improved family health, economic growth, for the family and the society, as well as lower rate of child mortality and malnutrition. It is also a neccessary ingedient in the fight against the spread of HIV/AIDS. An educated girl is less vulnerable to violence, less likely to marry and have children when still a teenager, and more likely to be literate and healthy into adulthood. One reason for denying girls their right to education is rarely articulated by those in charge; that is their far of the power that girls will have, through education. Some also look at girl-child education with an eye of suspicious and fear of changes in political struggle, cultural identity and influence girl-child could haveas adults in the family as a result of exposure to education. Sequel to this, highly traditional men and women in Nigeria believed that the education of women would bring marital disharmony. This is because it is assumed that education would make women proud, arrogant, independent and disobedient to their husbands. Apart from that, the standard of living of many families often result tomearly marriage,so that the dowry could be used to train the boys while the girls are automatically out of school. Thus, even when parents can be persuadedof the value of having girl-child educated, there remains the problem of making sure that they complete their studies. Dropout rates in the primary schools are higher for the girls than for the boys in many African countries.In Tanzania, for example, half of school dropouts each year are girls between 12 and 14 years who have to leave school because of pregnancies. This is the prominent area, girls should watch out for when given the privilege to go to school. Educationas i said earlier is the key to one's success in life. Girls as much as boys need success in life and should be given equal opportunity to education. Girls in their quest to acquire this knowledge should avoid doing anything that could be detrimental to their integrity and dignity as women.