ATTENTION:
BEFORE
YOU READ THE CHAPTER ONE OF THE PROJECT TOPIC BELOW, PLEASE READ THE
INFORMATION BELOW.THANK YOU!
INFORMATION:
YOU CAN
GET THE COMPLETE PROJECT OF THE TOPIC BELOW. THE FULL PROJECT COSTS N5,000
ONLY. THE FULL INFORMATION ON HOW TO PAY AND GET THE COMPLETE PROJECT IS AT THE
BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE. OR YOU CAN CALL: 08068231953, 08168759420
ASSESSMENT
OF PARENTAL ATTITUDE TOWARDS GIRL CHILD EDUCATION
CHAPTER ONE
INRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
The girl
child education has become a major issue in most developing countries
especially in Nigeria in which Lagos State belongs. In Nigerian culture, there
is the belief that women are second class citizens. Women are traditionally
believed to be weaker sex and therefore need the support and protection of men.
Many parents have the attitude that educating girls is a waste of time and
money because they will eventually be married out and their education would
only profit their husbands and their families. Furthermore, parents believe
that boys will become the breadwinners of their families and consequently must
be educationally empowered for the task ahead. Girls were considered a risk to
educate because they were vulnerable to physical and sexual harassment.
The
preference for male children is one of the major causes of high fertility in
most countries of Africa (Isiugo-Abanihe, 1994). The preference for a
particular sex derives from the perceived value or benefits of that particular
sex to parents. In many parts of Nigeria, male children are valued for their
role in retaining or perpetuating family name, staying permanently in or near
family compound or residence, provision of old-age security and serving as a
source of defense and social prestige to parents. When young, male children
render assistance to their parents in terms of helping on the farm, in their
businesses, running errands and, to a lesser extent, performing some household
chores. On the other hand, female children particularly assist their mothers in
a range of household chores including cooking, washing plates and clothes,
sweeping and cleaning house as well as baby minding (Edewor, 2001).
Parents’
perceptions of these benefits of male and female children influence their
fertility attitudes and preferences as well as actual fertility. The preference
for sons causes parents to have many children in the bid to have at least a son
to perpetuate family name and also to inherit family property (Edewor, 2001).
Aside from
these, in many developing countries, girls are withdrawn from schools at
puberty, for fear of unwanted pregnancy, and are married off early to husbands
they do not necessarily want (Muller, 2000). This gender discrimination in
education is not limited to the less developed countries of Africa. In some
parts of Asia, as in China, many peasants still hold son preference value.
According to
Ekejiuba (2011), the issue of poverty has further aggravated the situation of
girls’ lack of access to education because some parents when faced with scare
resources choose to educate boys rather than girls. These traditional beliefs
and parental poverty have been found to foster negative attitudes which limit
parents support for girl child education. Other hindrances to girl child
education in Nigeria according to Olomukoro and Omiunu (2011) includes cultural
inhibitions, erroneous interpretations of religious injunctions, traditional
practices, early betrothal of girls in marriage, gender insensitivity to
educational environments, societal preference for the male child and over
burdening of the girl-child with household chores and labour.
Education is
a fundamental right for all including girls and women. Women according to
UNESCO (2007) through education could contribute to the improvement in the
standards of living not only to their immediate families but to the society in
general. Girls’ education does not only empower girls, but it is the best investment
in national development. The UNICEF document emphasized that education helps
the girl to be self confident, participate effectively in the society and
protect them from HIV/AIDS and other sexual exploitations. It further asserts
that girl’s education also helps in reducing children and maternal mortality
rate and controlling diseases and improving health status. The realization of
the need for education for all segments of the world’s population has
intensified global attention to education for all.
Thus,
concerted efforts are being put in place by governments and other interest
groups on girl child education. In Nigeria, the National Policy on Education
(2004) clearly stated that equal educational opportunities should be given to
every Nigerian child irrespective of gender or location of the recipient.
The Pan
African conference on the education of girl child marked a mile stone in
meeting challenges of achieving education for all in 21st century. Drawing
strength from Pan African conference on the education of girl child, the
National task force on girl child education was inaugurated on 28th October
1993 under the umbrella of the National Women Commission(NWC) now federal
ministry of women affairs and youth development. Similarly, the UBE was inaugurated
in 1999 which geared toward the provision of compulsory education to all
Nigerian children. Currently, the Girls’ Education Project (GEP) which was
launched in December 2004 in partnership with UNICEF has recorded tremendous
gains in girl child education as well. The question begging for answers is;
have parents responded favorably to these invitations of girl child education?
The answer is not a laudable one as literature has that despite these notable
and encouraging efforts made by the international communities, government,
civil societies, gender movements among others there seems not to be yet a
dramatic positive attitudes of parents towards girls’ education in Nigeria as
female children remain marginalized educationally.
In
affirmative to this, Nwankwo (2007) submitted that preference is still given to
the schooling of boys to that of girls in many families. To some families, he
further noted, they see little or no point spending their money educating women
since they are often considered other people’s property. Thus, it is believed
that there is no need to make sacrifices to send the girl child to school.
Hence, this study seeks to assess parents’ attitude towards girl child
education.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
Societal
development requires the joint efforts of males and females. Development in
essence creates equal opportunity for all irrespective of age or gender.
However, in as much as girls and boys are regarded as equals during infancy,
there is a tendency for some sort of disparity or what is generally known as
gender gap to develop as they grow up. That women are active partners in the
development of any society is a fact that cannot be taken for granted. It is
saddening, however, to note that more than twenty years after the Beijing
commitment to eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education,
millions of children, especially girls, are still perceived as not making it
into school, despite a concerted international effort to champion the cause. In
Nigeria the gender gap is even believed to be widening and discrimination
continues to permeate the educational systems (Oleribe, 2007).
Even though
educating girls has been repeatedly shown to have several benefits such as
increasing their self-esteem, increasing their influence over their own lives
and family and community decisions, lowering fertility, improving maternal and
child health, and helping in decreasing environmental degradation, however,
considerable resistance still exists in developing countries with regard to
educating girls. When the girl child is not educated or empowered, a number of
negative outcomes predictably follow.
In the urban
centers especially in Lagos metropolis, girls are observed to be the ones
frequently engaging in petty trading such as hawking pure water, groundnut,
garden egg, bread and so on during school period in order to make extra income
for the family. Many parents find that the opportunity cost of education is too
high. Therefore, the income from such activities contributes towards raising
the family’s standard of living. Worst still, girls have been the victims of
neglect as a result of cultural practices and traditional norms. There are
still some cultural practices such as early girl marriage and girl initiation
which aimed at preparing them for woman hood and marriage at the expense of
their formal education. Such aforementioned facts make people to cast doubts on
whether parents still hold to their culture and social status with regards to
educating their girl child even when education through UBE has been made free
and compulsory to all in Nigeria. This
paper is therefore aimed at investigating current parental attitudes towards
girl child education. Hence, this study seeks to assess parents’ attitude
towards girl child education in Badagry Local Government Area of Lagos State.
1.3 Purpose of the Study
The general
objective of this study is to explore parents’ attitude towards girl child
education in Badagry Local Government Area of Lagos State. Other specific
objectives are:
a. To examine the influence of cultural
believes on girl child education in Nigeria
b. To find out the influence of poverty in
the attitude of parents towards girl child education.
c. To check for the relative influence of
religions on girl child education.
d. To investigate the challenges of
girl-child education in Nigeria
e. To account for the roles of government in
girl-child education in Nigeria.
HOW TO GET THE FULL PROJECT WORK
PLEASE, print the following instructions and information if you
will like to order/buy our complete written material(s).
HOW TO RECEIVE PROJECT MATERIAL(S)
After paying the appropriate amount (#5,000) into our bank
Account below, send the following information to
08068231953 or 08168759420
(1) Your project topics
(2) Email Address
(3) Payment Name
(4) Teller Number
We will send your material(s) after we receive bank alert
BANK ACCOUNTS
Account Name: AMUTAH DANIEL CHUKWUDI
Account Number: 0046579864
Bank: GTBank.
OR
Account Name: AMUTAH DANIEL CHUKWUDI
Account Number: 2023350498
Bank: UBA.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CALL:
08068231953 or 08168759420
AFFILIATE
Comments
Post a Comment