GENDER IMBALANCE IN EDUCATION

The huge lapses in the education system of Nigeria is fast becoming an issue of major concern especially when it comes to the matter of the girl child education. It is alarming to note that in a society such as ours where education is considered important, the female child can still be denied the fundamental human right to education.

This practice is found basically in all the tribes of the nation where the male child is considered to be of more value than a female child. The girl child is neglected in almost all aspects coming from both respect and dignity. She is considered as inferior and not up to equal standard to her female counterpart in society. Perhaps it is only George Orwell’s saying coming to play when he said in his book ‘Animal Farm’ that some all animals are created equal but some are more equal than the other. The Yoruba kindred for example believe that a Yoruba girl will get married and bear her husband’s name thereby adding no value to her father’s lineage; therefore training the girl is considered to be a precious waste of time and resources. The Hausa-Fulani also are of the school of thought that women should be submissive to their husbands and therefore should not be trained to be more knowledgeable than their husbands. It is however ironic that the Quran which is the Holy Book of Islam (the dominant religion in the North) allows both women and men the right to a good education but most families concentrate on boys rather than girls.

Another factor affecting the girl-child education is poverty; a family with limited resources will rather train the male child than the female child. Some of them are asked to drop out of school to get married or to look for work. They are encouraged to marry rich, older men so that they can contribute to the welfare of their family. Some are told to look for work like selling or hawking in order to cater for the needs of the family. Since the role of the woman has been stereotyped into being a helper to man, the belief is that she should pull her weight in taking care of the family.

The government on its part has been trying to curb this trend of neglect to the girl child. The influence of some western culture has been able to positively affect the mission of eradicating the girl-child discrimination. Since the mid-1980s, some state governments in northern Nigeria began offering free education for girls up through secondary school. In other states, it was made an offence not to educate the girl—child. More girls have been able to receive good and qualitative education than in times past.

The problem of the gender imbalance in education cannot be solved until we change our orientation and attitude about the role of women in the society. We have to look for ways in making sure that more of our girls are allowed to stay in school to receive proper education as this will better our chances in national development. We have examples of great women who have achieved feats and surpassed expectations that man has put on them. Education is vital to the development of our nation and we need to make sure that everybody is giving equal and fair chance of receiving good and qualitative education.

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