THE GIRL CHILD AND NATION-BUILDING
The girl child is a powerful being that possesses unique traits and characteristics which makes her not only a woman, but a force to reckon with in a world where strength and virtue is on a constant decline. There is more to a girl child that meets the eye. She is more than a wife or mother, she is the channel through which the balance of human existence is built upon. She is a life giver and a sole connection between the idea of life and life itself.
When we empower the girl child everybody benefits. Girls who are educated, healthy and free can transform their communities when they become mothers and consequently pass on the benefits to their children and even posterity yet unborn. The girl child must be empowered because it is her right; discrimination has no place in the 21st century and every girl has the right to good things of life. Empowering girls means healthier families. In fact, it is universally acclaimed that when you train a girl, you’ve trained a nation, ostensibly showing the immense importance of a girl child in the society.
The forum of African women educationist, a Pan African non-governmental organisation founded in 1992 has been promoting girls and women education. Gender discrimination is one of the primary impediments to education for all, which is one of the primary challenges to education, which affects boys and girls. However, in many parts of the world, girls are most often the victims as they pursue education.
According to United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) “Institute for statistics database shows that poor girls from rural areas with uneducated mothers are the children most likely to be excluded from learning opportunities. In west central Africa, more than 40 per cent of secondary schoolaged girls are not in school and more than 60 per cent of illiterate young people in the world are women”.
In Nigeria, many girls suffer from abuse. It might be abuse at home, including harmful bodily practices, and it might also be sexual abuse or even worse. That is why many households think that girls should not receive education in the way boys do, if they receive it at all. Many people still live with a traditionally bias view of life. According to them, “a girl should grow up to be a mother and housewife”. What would she need education for anyway?
Out of these reasons stems another one, which is gender discrimination. Girls are discriminated against based on their gender, both in their communities and in schools. Their achievements are not considered as significant as the boys achievements are. Less attention is paid to educating girls on topics of their bodies and their health. Also most girls in some part of the country are often forced into marrying very early. When a girl becomes a wife as early as 11-12 years old, she will most likely not have an opportunity to receive proper education.
To this extent, the need to examine measures capable of correcting these anomalies affecting the girl child has become inevitable. Introduction of laws that protect the girl child from abuses and the meting out of appropriate punishment to whoever abuses a girl child would serve as one of the measures to improve the situation. Nigeria policymakers should seriously consider the issues of the girl-child education in the country in order to ensure a secured future for all and sundry.
Abisola Ayorinde, Ita-Iyalode, Abeokuta, Ogun State