COMPLETE SCHOOL PROJECT TOPICS & MATERIALS :
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CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
Education is imparting and acquisition of knowledge, skills and attitude through teaching and learning at home from peer groups, formal organization such as schools and religious bodies for the settlement of individual concern so as to make him or her useful t himself or herself and the society. It can also be seen traditionally, as the initiation of the young and old into the value system of the society or a process of learning to learn. It is the deliberate, systematic, and sustained human effort to learn the values, attitudes, skills, and behaviours that are consistent with the values system of a given society (Thomson, 2000). Education is a tool that encourages the transformation of persons, groups and structure in a given society. It is what makes a difference between the learned and the unlearned person in the society. Regardless of the medium of its acquisition; education has the capacity to fundamentally transform individuals and the society for better performance and relevance.
According to Ningi (2012), Education developed from the human effort for survival and enlightenment. It may be formal or informal. Formal education refers to the general course of action by which human beings acquire the knowledge and skills needed to function in their culture. Formal education refers to the process by which teachers instruct students in courses of study within institutions. According to her, “the single most important key to development and poverty alleviation is education.” (pg.1). It is the disparity between a life of grinding poverty and the potential for a full and secure life.
Consequently, it is believed that all nations have to educate their citizens, male or female to achieve a significant sustainable development. As a result, there is no gainsaying that the fact that education opens doors to economic and social prosperity to a given nation, spurred by a vibrant workforce and well-informed citizens able to struggle and co-operate in the global market. Nigeria as a nation and Kaduna north local government in their need of sustainable development equally believes that meaningful development and progress can only take place in the country and the local government when its citizens are well educated and fully equipped to use their education as a means of solving the sundry and multifaceted problem facing the country and the local government. (Ningi, 2012)
If education is the single most important key to development and poverty alleviation, and a transformative tool for both individual and the society in general then every individual and society regardless of sex (gender) or status need to be educated. Nevertheless, this single most important key to development, poverty alleviation and transformative tool for the development of individuals and the society had been lopsided for ages, because the girl-child education most especially in the northern part of Nigeria has been receiving a second class attention compared to the attention given to male – child education. One single important fact about education that had been ignored and neglected in the educational sector of Kaduna North Local government is the issue of equal educational opportunities between the girl-child and her male counterpart (male-child).
The researcher is of the view that, the idea behind this inequality between the girl-child and male-child in terms of equal educational opportunity is not on the importance of education to the individual and the society but emphatically on the worth of the recipient. The issue here is not whether the girl-child is not equal with the male-child in term of status as a human being but in term of role in the society, it is not whether the society try to revere the girl-child or not. The issue is: If the girl-child is worth any educational investment by her parents and the society?
Another issue that needs understanding is how the education of the girl-child is going to contribute meaningfully to her immediate family and the society in general in a culture that is extremely male dominated in nature and practice? If education fundamentally is to increase the individual’s awareness and understanding of his environment, the question that we need to address is, why the pin down on girl-child education? If the above, is a statement of fact, what happens to the girl-child who had been denied access to the transformative tool of the individual and the society, how would she become aware and understand her environment, and if she has no understanding of her environment how can she contribute meaningfully to her immediate family and the society in general? Another question that this research needs to address is how would equal educational opportunity be achieved in an environment and culture that is predominantly male in nature and culture that believes that the girl-child is almost a disposable property or item? Doesn’t the society seem to portray the girl-child only as human at creation and less human at equal educational opportunities? As a teacher and female too one vital heart of education that is exigent for societal development is the education of the girl-child who is the future mother and mentor of the society. This unequal educational opportunity between the girl-child and the male-child is a denial of the adage that says, “Educate a man, you educate an individual, but educate a woman, you educate a nation.” The challenge of unequal educational opportunity between the girl-child and the male-child in Kaduna north local government constitutes the main thrust of this research.
As important as education is for the growth and development of the individual and society, the education of the girl-child in most of the Northern part of Nigeria and in Kaduna North Local government to be specific has been facing a lot of diverse challenges. While some fathers in Kaduna North local government argue that both male and female children are worth equal educational opportunities, other fathers sees family’s financial investment in the male-child as an investment for the future of the family, and educational investment in the girl-child as an investment into another man’s family. Those fathers who argue against equal educational opportunity between girl-child and her male counterpart questioned whether a palace guard is worth equal right with a crown prince.
The growing in-equality of educational opportunity between the girl-child and her male counterpart in Kaduna North local government is key to our economic and developmental backwardness as a local government, hence the need for high-quality consideration. The quest for equal educational opportunity between the two to a large extent is fundamental to economic liberation and individual freedom. Better understanding of the need for equal educational opportunity between them will point toward equal opportunity in politics, economy and social status among others.
Female education is considered to be one of the most important forces of economic, social, religious and political development of human society, for the basis that a well-informed mother raises smaller, healthier and superior educated family and herself more industrious at home and at work. An essential challenge that entangled the educational sector of Kaduna North Local Government is the understanding of culture, society and religion on the importance of the education of the girl-child. We come in contact with different scholars who ventured into the field of education to cast their mite on the factors militating against girl-child education. The main focus of this chapter is to convey how scholars dealt with the issue of the factors militating against girl-child education.
The rationale behind this research is to examine the factors militating against girl-child education in Kaduna North Local Government. Consequently, to bring to light the fundamental arguments against the factors militating against equal educational opportunities between girl-child and her male equal with the aim of educating the society, culture and religion on the advantage of giving the girl-child equal educational opportunity alongside her male equal. The researcher ventured to cast her mite into the treasury of educational field to give an all-encompassing perception of girl-child and equal educational opportunity.
1.2 Statement of Problem
Education is an emblem for the prediction of the future of man and his relationship with the society. Owing to the above statement, the society, culture and religion are under obligation to ensure equal educational opportunities between the girl-child and her male counterpart. This is for the purpose of giving both the girl-child and her male equal a better understanding of their worth as human beings and the worth of education as a transformative tool for the individual and the society. Unfortunately, it is not all members of the society that get equal opportunity for this emblem that predicts the future of man and his relationship with his society, (Enoh,2000)
The quest for equal educational opportunity between the girl-child and her male counterpart is a quest for gender-responsive planning, programming and budgeting that will contributes to the advancement of gender equality, equity and the fulfillment of women’s rights in education sub-sector. It entails identifying and reflecting needed interventions for addressing gender gaps in education. It is an attempt to create enabling educational policy and framework that will give the girl-child the opportunity to compete with her male counterpart in the pursuit of education.
Ultimately, imbalanced access to educational opportunity between the girl-child and her male-equal has been the key factor to preventing the girl-child socio-economic development and empowerment in the northern part of Nigeria and beyond. Hypothetically however, the stereotyped roles assigned by the colonial, cultural and religious ‘morality’ which emphasizes domestic education for the girl-child have made gender lop-sidedness, to be sustained in Nigeria thereby affecting the political and economic empowerment of the girl-child and by extension the women’s folk (Isaac, 2007).
There is no doubt that community admiration to the value of education in Kaduna north local government has been displaced, creating way to the awful condition of the girl-child education. This obstacle contributed to the poor school enrolment of the girl-child who is considered not necessarily relevant to pursue formal education in a traditional community. This research has investigated the basic factors militating against equal educational opportunities between the girl-child and her male counterpart, bearing in mind how the socio-cultural factors such as gender typecast, negative traditional beliefs, colonial policies, socio-economic, historical and religious factors affect girl-child education in Kaduna North Local Government area.
Purpose of the Study
This research work is an attempt to investigate the factors militating against girl-child education: A case study of Kaduna North Local Government Area.
- How parents support for boy-child education affects girl-child educational opportunities.
- Major factors responsible for un-equal opportunity in girl-child education.
- How socio-cultural factor is used as a bases for un-equal opportunity in girl-child education.