FACTORS MILITATING AGAINST GIRL-CHILD EDUCATION

CHAPTER TWO

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

INTRODUCTION

Our focus in this chapter is to critically examine relevant literature that would assist in explaining the research problem and furthermore recognize the efforts of scholars who had previously contributed immensely to similar research. The chapter intends to deepen the understanding of the study and close the perceived gaps.

Precisely, the chapter will be considered in three sub-headings:

• Conceptual Framework
• Theoretical Framework
• Empirical Review

2.1 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

Education

According to some learned people, the word "Education" has been derived from the Latin term "Educatum" which means the act of teaching or training. A group of educationists say that it has come from another Latin word "Educare" which means "to bring up" or "to rise". According to a few others, the word "Education" has originated from another Latin term "Educere" which means "to lead forth" or "to come out". All these meanings indicate that education seeks to nourish the good qualities in man and draw out the best in every individual. Education seeks to develop the innate inner capacities of man. By educating an individual we attempt to give him some desirable knowledge, understanding, skills, interests, attitudes and critical 'thinking. That is, he acquires knowledge of history, geography, arithmetic, languages and sciences. As an individual in the society, he has to think critically about various issues in life and take decisions about them being free from bias and prejudices, superstitions and blind beliefs. Thus, he has to learn all these qualities of head, hand and heart through the process of education.

Traditional and modern concept of education

In the context of this initiative, the terms Traditional and Modern Education are used to suggest teaching imparted by use of conventional methods and teaching imparted using modern technology respectively. There is a difference in the opinion of the people regarding the use of traditional teaching methods and modern teaching methods.

Traditional Classroom:

The teacher in a traditional classroom will try to explain the concept verbally and/or through the blackboard where she will diagrammatically explain how evaporation of water occurs. There were no technology, no multimedia. There was no freedom of speech.

Modern Classroom:

The term "Modern" is concerned it is "characteristic of present and recent time". So the definition of "modern education" can be said as "the act or process of imparting the knowledge about our present world and society". So education of recent time is good or bad depends upon the person’s perspective of taking things. See there are good things and bad things associated with everything.

The teacher in a modern classroom could choose from a wide variety of real life examples of evaporation such as boiling water for tea or clothes drying up in sun etc. and run a short video to take the students through the experience of evaporation.

Broadly speaking, the impact on students’ learning of these two methods can be categorized as follows

Cognitive development:

In the traditional learning method, the teacher communicates knowledge to students expecting it to be absorbed and assimilated by students as it is. This usually leads to rote learning without real understanding of the topics. Using modern teaching methods, the students can be involved deeply in the learning process and made to research and come up with their own analysis which leads to a two-way learning that helps to sharpen their cognitive, reasoning and imaginative abilities.

Assimilation of knowledge:

The knowledge received just by verbal or blackboard method doesn’t go as deep in memory as does knowledge imparted by audio-visual techniques. When information is presented visually in format that can be related to real life (as in the example above), the students can absorb and retain that information for longer periods of time.

Well rounded personality development:

Since the traditional teaching methods usually follow a structured unidirectional approach, the students don’t get the opportunity to go beyond what’s presented to them. In the case where more modern techniques are applied, the students get exposed to knowledge beyond text books that contributes to increased confidence, feelings of empowerment leading to a much more rounded personality.

Experiential learning:

In the evaporation example mentioned above, we saw that the traditional teaching uses mainly verbal communication while modern methods use a variety of different methods. The modern teaching involves a more holistic experiential learning where a student learns by engaging various senses and feelings or perceptions. Knowledge is constructed through play, direct experience and social interaction.

The traditional learning however, is restricted to just listening by students limiting the scope of learning experience. Historically, the primary educational technique of traditional education was simple oral recitation. Knowledge was absorbed through lectures, worksheets and texts.

Applicability of knowledge:

With the assistance of modern methods such as computers, the students can be presented with an environment where they can practically apply the knowledge to simulated real life problems. This type of learning is difficult to impart when the reliance is just on blackboards.

Role of Teacher:

The teacher sets the stage and remains in the background in such a learning situation. Through this process there is more learning and less teaching; more study and activity and less recitation. Pupils are guided in the solution of vital problems of individual and social life. Teachers are facilitators, guides who foster thinking.

Traditional approach the teachers’ primary activity was assigning and listening to these recitations; students studied and memorized the assignments at home. A test or oral examination might be given at the end of a unit, and the process, which was called "assignment-study-recitation-test", was repeated. In addition to its overemphasis on verbal answers, reliance on rote memorization (memorization with no effort at understanding the meaning), and disconnected, unrelated assignments, it was also an extremely inefficient use of students' and teachers' time. This traditional approach also insisted that all students be taught the same materials at the same point; students that did not learn quickly enough failed, rather than being allowed to succeed at their natural speeds.

aims of education

Aims give direction to activities. Aims of education are formulated keeping in view the needs of situation. Human nature is multisided with multiple needs, which are related to life. Educational aims are correlated to ideals of life. The goal of education should be the full flowering of the human on this earth. According to a UNESCO study, “the physical, intellectual, emotional and ethical integration of the individual into a complete man/woman is the fundamental aim of education.” The goal of education is also to form children into human persons committed to work for the creation of human communities of love, fellowship, freedom, justice and harmony. Students are to be moulded only by making them experience the significance of these values in the school itself. Teachers could achieve this only by the lived example of their lives manifested in hundreds of small and big transactions with students in word and deed. Individual aims and social aims are the most important aims of education. They are opposed to each other individual aims gives importance for the development of the individuality. Social aim gives importance to the development of society through individual not fulfilling his desire. But it will be seen that development of individuality assumes meaning only in a social environment. Following are the aims of education.

Individual Aims

According to Sir Percy Nunn observes,“Nothing goods enters into the human world except in and through the free activities of individual men and women and that educational practice must be shaped to accord with that truth”. Education should give scope to develop the inborn potentialities through maximum freedom. Education also seeks to make individual harmonious.

Social Aim:

The progress of the society is the aim of education. Education is for the society and of the society. The function of education is for the welfare of the state. The state will make the individual as it desires. It prepares the individual to play different roles in society. Through education the individual child should be provided with the require assistance to become a useful member of the society, irrespective of the socio- economic status.

Vocational aim:

The capacities and aptitudes of children should be studied and then they should be advised to choose such courses and subjects which are in accord with their abilities and interests and serve them usefully in adult life. Education should prepare the child to earn his livelihood so that he can lead a productive life in the society.

Intellectual aim:

Development of intelligence through education will enable the child to lead an independent life with confidence.

Cultural aim:

It is knowledge which leads to culture. Culture means something cultivated, as a result of long experience of the race, something ripened. Worthwhile experiences of race, are so assimilated in the mind that they improve the quality of the mind and that mind is called cultured mind. A cultured person is expected to(1) appreciate ideas and art (2) have broad human interests (3) have social efficiency and socially acceptable behavior and (4) understand the best thoughts(past and present) of the community. By undergoing education child becomes aware of its culture and knows a lot about music, literature, and other arts and becomes civilized. Cultural development is through development of aesthetic sense & respect for others’ culture

Moral aim:

Moral values like honesty, loyalty, tolerance, justice, self-control & sincerity promote the social efficiency of an individual

Citizenship:

Education enable the children to grow as productive citizens by following the social and moral standards set by the society.

Physical health and well-being:

Education prepare the child to lead a healthy life through providing the knowledge required for a healthy living.

Character development:

Education assist the child to develop certain human values, attitudes and habits which are essential for building a desirable character.

Education for leisure

An idle brain is a devil’s workshop. One great cause of strikes and indiscipline among the students is that they are not taught how to utilize their leisure hours. Education prepares the child to use his leisure time for doing something useful.

To Ensure Spiritual Development:

Aim of education is to develop the child mentally, morally and above all spiritually. “Education must enable mankind through its culture to enter more and more fully into the spiritual realm”.

girl child education

Education seems to be a pre-requisite for a sustainable development which could lead a country to achieve maximum profitability within and outside the country (Tola and Asishati (2012). Adedeji (2019) reasoned that lack of education leads to so many unfortunate events in one's life. Education as a process welcomes changes in different aspects of life and promotes sustainability of society (Huges, Kroechler, and Zanden, 2019). Education is an aspect of human endeavor that leads to socialization Onyekwelu, (2017), he also opined that education can also be seen as a pointer that directs, detects, leads someone in right directions, and equally opens an avenue for problem solving. Moreover, it makes one to acquire and develop high sense of esteem, being able to know his/her personality capacity. Education is the main source of our democratic way of life, economic, political, social and otherwise. It is the utmost way of achievement in our society enveloping human existence, and at the same time, the most economic investment society can be quilt. (Kennedy, 2012) Marriage is found in all cultures as a process by which individual select their partners. It is an old institution which regulates the term upon which male and female reproduce according to well defined and acceptable social norms. The girl-child, and indeed women all over the world especially in Nigeria have had their destiny sealed from birth by tradition and culture on account of their biological sex. They have been called the weaker sex in order to justify societal discrimination and oppression against them. Their natural rights of place in the scheme of things as human beings are not respected. They are shortchanged, victimized, and stereotyped. The girl-child has become a victim of female trafficking across international borders, being denied education, and consigned to early marriage. They can be seen but not to be heard in both private and the public spaces of decision making. The girl-child by the natural status ascribed to her by male defined norms societal conduct and behaviour remains a property to be owned and commoditized. It is only education that can salvage women from this condition. The situation in Nigeria is clear, a girl will be withdrawn from school if a good marriage prospects arises. (DHS) data also show a clear link in some other countries like Bangladesh, Nepal, Kazakhstan and Indonesia. Although attitudes towards the education of girls have begun to change even in traditional societies, many parents still believe that investment in a girl's education is wasted when she is simply going to be married and work in another household. The costs of the investment in education reinforce the imp the impetus towards the girl-child withdrawal from school. In rural areas, secondary education often means that a girl must leave to live in a school dormitory, parent fear that this may expose her to risks including pre-marital sex and pregnancy. In Northern Nigeria, for example, girls are often kept out of school for this very reason even where girls can live at home while attending schools, fears about their possible sexual activity about sexual harassment or about insecurity on the journey to and from school, discourage their attendance. The removal from school of a young girl to marry early limits her opportunities to develop her intellect. She also loses out on socializing, making friends outside her family circle, and many other useful skills. This reduces her chances of developing her own independent identity. The girl grows up with no sense of the right to assert to her own point of view and little experience in articulating one. Lack of self-esteem or of a sense of ownership of he own body expose a girl-child to unwanted pregnancy and make her vulnerable to HIV infection. Lack of schooling also means that the girl child who must work to earn a living has no qualifications or skills, which leads her to a commercialized version of work as cleaners, cooks, child minding and may also lead her to commercial sex trade.

Factors militating against girl child education

early marriage

Nigeria a country blessed with rich human and natural resources is the most populated country in the sub-Saharan region with an estimated population of about 162.5 million. Of this, about 49% of the population are females, accounting for roughly 80.2 million of the entire population. This population therefore signifies the economic and societal importance of the female to the country. The African society however places expectation on females to marry and become submissive to their husbands and in some cases drop the personal interest and ambitions. Early marriage impairs the realization and enjoyment of virtually every one of their right. (Tilak 2015), the imposition of marriage partner on a girl-child deprives her of freedom, opportunity for person development and other rights including health, education and well-being. Early marriage is seen differently by different people. It is relative to people and place. Marriage which is considered early here might be an ideal age in other part of the world. To Onuoha (2019) early marriage is a situation where female children are given away in an unripe age by their parents to enable their bride price to be used for the education or training of the male children. According to Mavis (2019), early marriage is the type of marriage between two people who are below marriageable age, usually agreed for them by their parents. It is a marriage between young girls and older men. Early marriage is the marriage between spouses when both or the lady spouse is no mature enough to appreciate the essence of marriage. Adebayo (2015), before the age of 18 years early marriage represents a major to a child is well-being while the practice affects a girl child badly. The mostly fundament right of a girl child to survive, to develop are undermined. She is left out with little or no opportunity to influence her own life (Sadik, 2015). Early marriage truncates the girl - child and can lead to preproduction of poverty from one generation to next (United Nations, 1989, Singh, 2018). Early marriage has become a social problem in many subSaharan African countries because it tends to lead to school dropouts, illegal abortions, child abandonment, increasing number of adolescent prostitution, early breakages of marriages, and growing rate of HIV/AIDS particularly among the girl child. (Ajayi2018). In many countries especially among the poor migrants or displaced communities, marriages at young is not uncommon, usually it is the girls who marry early compared to boys (Lewis 2016). This is gender inequality presents in all aspects of the society, lack of life skill and negotiating power (Lewis 2016). Annan, (2016), opined that early marriage is the type of marriage that fails to put the both parties consent into consideration which could lead to disastrous experiences. Early marriage also defined by the (F.R.N., 1999), Federal Republic of Nigerian constitution of 1999 as any marriage before the age of 18 years. (Wluml, 2013), women living under Muslim law in Afighistan define early marriage as a type that humiliate women's dignity violently as well as deprive them so many opportunities life can offer. This situation which early marriage has subjected a girl-child is alarming and could seek attention among government, educationist, professional, students and the society at large. This is partly because early marriage appears to be more pronounced, irrespective of the huge task already done by developing countries to prevent such an outdated practice. It interferes with the right and freedom of the girl child. Marriage at a very young age has very serious consequences for both the child parents and the children. In the past, some studies have worked assiduously to measure the implications of early marriage on education of the girl child which could be attributed to poor education background of the girl child family, economic status of the country and gender inequality (Moemeka, 2018). (Lyold and Mensch, 2018), are of the opinion that women with poor education background could be traced from the world go, and the girl-child in question may have no interest on education as well as poor abilities to cope, there by grabbing the little opportunities of leaving in the name of marriage to run away of such responsibilities. In (Ethopia, 2005), some parents are sincerely of the opinion that school dropout syndrome could be linked with early marriage in other to prevent some ugly behaviours of their children i.e. unwanted pregnancies, rape, suicide attempt. (Ngugen and Wodon, 2012).

Impact of Early Marriage on Girl Child Education

The school is the most important institution outside the family involved in socializing young people into all dimensions of adult roles and responsibilities. Many years of schooling has been associated with many positive outcomes, including later ages of marriage, lower fertility and healthier and better educated children. (Otoo-Oyotey, 2003). Marriage often means the end of educational development for women. In the case of early marriage, girls may be deprived for vital education needed for their preparation into adulthood, their effective contribution to the future well-being of their family and society, and their capacity to earn and make a living. The education a girl receives is the strongest predictor of the age she will marry. The most important documented implication of its loss is that girl grows up with hindered sense or no sense at all, of the right to assert her won point of view and little experience, as women are barred from participation in political, economic and cultural decisions - making processes. Early marriage has disrupted the chances of a girl child to inherit the goal of equality in education for girls and boys for the universal right to education by the Development goals (MDGs) adopted by the 191 members states of the united Nation in 2000.Early marriage truncates the girl - child and can lead to preproduction of poverty from one generation to next (United Nations, 1989, Singh, 2018). Early marriage has become a social problem in many subSaharan African countries because it tends to lead to school dropouts, illegal abortions, child abandonment, increasing number of adolescent prostitution, early breakages of marriages, and growing rate of HIV/AIDS particularly among the girl child. (Ajayi2018).

Poverty

Poverty have remained a serious enemy of girl child education. Driscoll and Nagel, (2010) asserted that parents struggling to raise a child, often see poverty as adding extensive stress to the family hence many girls who should class have been withdrawn to work for money. This sometime results to child labour. Available study indicates that rightly or wrongly impoverished parents often feel they need their girl-child” labor for additional income, just to help with the grueling requirements of life (Sperling 2005; in Onyeike, & Angela, 2011). In some parts of Nigeria, it is a known fact that the input of the girl child into the family income is so high that it becomes economically unwise to allow such a child to go to school. Examples of such inputs include generating income by way of hawking food items. The girl child also helps with the household chores and look after the younger ones which relieves the parents of employing paid house helps. This therefore reduces the financial burden on the family (Ballara, 2002).

Traditional cultural practices

traditional cultural practices strongly mitigate girls’ enrolment in educational system. Family with limited resources tend to place more priority on boy child education recognizing them as future heads of household. Meanwhile girls are enrolled, they often face many more barriers to learning than boys do. For example, given the paucity of adequate day-care centers throughout much of the developing world and high levels of women’s participation in the informal and formal labor markets, it is not uncommon for young girls to have to bring younger siblings to school with them, disrupting not only their own studies but those of other children (Leach, 2003).In addition, women and girls often spend significantly more time on household chores and caring duties, such as child-rearing or attending to the sick, than male counterparts. This obligation inevitably limits the time available for education and other activities. Another contributing factor influencing cultural traditions and practices of the parents on girl-child education is the initiation ceremonies which still mark the transition from childhood to adulthood among communities in Sub-Saharan Africa (Ahmad & Najeemah, 2013). UNESCO, et al, (2002) report shows that traditionally initiated girls may also feel it difficult to continue schooling after passage to adult hood as the next step is expected to be marriage.

Parental Influence

A study in the southern part of Adamawa state revealed that fathers are deliberately not allowing their daughters to go to school because they consider investment in female education as unprofitable, since the girls are likely to end up in another man’s home (Abubakar, 2003). Parental influence has been identified as an important factor affecting girl student’ academic achievement; parents’ education and encouragement are strongly related to improved student achievement (Wang, Wildman & Colboum 1996). Parental education and social economic status have an influence on student. achievement. Students with parents who were both college – educated tended to achieve at the highest levels. Children whose parents are of high educational status have a better statistical chance of participating in secondary Education (Oloo, 2003). Important factors include parental involvement in their children education, how much Television children are allowed to watch and how often students change schools (Hammer, 2003).

Religion

Religion can be seen as a contributing factor to the inequalities between men factor to the inequalities between men and women. Rhlich (1975), emphasized that the institution of Pudah, symbolized by the veil alienates Muslim women from the public eyes and reduces them to complete subordination. Clocough and Lawin in Awoniyi (2001) said Islam has been associated with low participation of female in schools. There is that wrong notion of imposition of Western formal education for the purpose of converting people to Christianity. For these reason Islamic communities opposes formal education especially for the female for fear that western education promote value contrary to cultural norms. Abbasi (2009) in his paper on Women and Education in Islam admitted that religion particularly is cited as a major stumbling block for women’s advancement. Similarly, Norton and Tomal (2009) reported that religion adversely.

Cultural Traditions

Another contributing factor influencing cultural traditions and practices of the parents on girl-child education is the initiation ceremonies which still mark the transition from childhood to adulthood among communities in Sub-Saharan Africa. Evidently lot of confusion and dilemmas faced by girl-children were created by attending ceremonies more especially when the schedules of such ceremonies overlap with the school calendar and that leads to absenteeism and dropouts. Although, communities accept the girls as adults, teachers or schools continue to consider them as children. Sometimes they may be punished for not participating in some activities which adults do not normally participate in.Traditionally, initiated girls may also feel it difficult to continue schooling after passage to adult hood as the next step is expected to be marriage (UNESCO, et al, 2002). Among the other cultural constrains on girl-child education that creates similar dilemmas to those who pass-through initiation ceremonies are Circumcision. Normally Circumcised girl- children become negative influences on their uncircumcised peers and perceive themselves as adults and as a result of this become rude to teachers and often reject schools as institutions for “children” by exhibiting abnormal behaviors of frequent absenteeism and reduced performance which leads them to drop out from schools and eventually to marry (Ghaghara, 1993).Njau and Wamahiu, (1998) established a relationship between. Girl-child pregnancy and the incidence of dropout throughout Africa, these pregnancies end the schooling of girl-child both though self-withdrawal and national pregnancy policies that ensures the expulsion of girl children from the education system with little or no chance of re-entry. Najau and Wamahiu (1998) argue that it is the societal responses to pregnancy rather than pregnancy per se that push girl-children out of school and hamper their opportunities for educational and career development. Odaga and Heneveld (1995) indicate that fear of pregnancy is another factor for parents inspiring parents to remove their children from schools. The health implications of teenage pregnancy are another reason for early dropouts. A study in Kenya showed that female students from secondary school who had been pregnant were twice as likely to report poor health as those with no pregnancy history (Yomi, 1993).

2.2 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

Social Disorganization Theory

The proponents of social disorganization theory according to Mills (1943), valued a smooth-working, culturally homogeneous social system in which people adapt their behavior to accepted norms. Through this vision of the ideal society, they now determine who and what their social problems were. In every society ‘traditional or modern, there are always social sanctioned behavior pattern which people are bound to. Hence, we have socialization which makes sure that there is continuity and order in the society. However, more often than not, there are certain breakdowns of these socially sanctioned behavior patterns. The organization of society was made possible therefore by sets of norms, or rules for appropriate behavior. Deviant behaviors where due to the existence of social disorganization within parts of the social system Social disorganization give rise to social disequilibrium because poverty and poor managerial system deprive people not to abide by the norms. It gives rise to deviant behaviors. It has also been responsible for the alienation and exploitation of girls in early marriage. Many are denied of their education, social rites because of early marriage.

2.3 EMPIRICAL STUDIES

Osakinle and Falana (2014), conducted a study on factors militating against girl child education in senior secondary school Education in Abakaliki Local Government Area of Ebonyi State. The study examined how cultural, religious, early marriage factors hinders the educational ambition of the girl child. How early marriage limit the full development of the potential of the girl child. How it encourage poor academic performance of the child. The study gave some reasons why people or girls join early marriage. Poverty, environment, social cultural background study went further to recommend that there should be direct counseling programs about been educated for the girl-child. Moral instructions should also be re-emphasized to assist or aid young girls who may fall into the temptations of getting into early marriage. Counseling services should be extended to non-school setting to help parents eradicate the notion or superstition of male superiority among their children especially females. Counselors are to enlighten the public on their services to families to live an exemplary moral life.

In a study by Ngozi O.(2020) on Early Marriage as factors militating against Girl child Education in Abakaliki Education Zone of Ebonyi State. Four research questions were formulated to guide the study; a descriptive survey design was adopted. The population of the study was four hundred and forth eight (448) teachers. The researcher used simple random sampling technique to draw the sample for the study. Twenty eight (28) respondents were randomly selected from each of the five (5) selected schools. Structured questionnaire was used to collect data for the study. The researcher used Test-re-test method to determine the reliability of the instrument, and a reliability coefficient of 0.89 was obtained, using the spearman's rank order (rho). All the copies of the questionnaire were dully completed and returned with no instrument mortality. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive mean statistics (x) to give verifiable answers to the problems and objectives of the research. The findings revealed that early marriage results negatively to the poor academic performances of a girl-child, that early marriage results to school dropout, hinders educational ambition and finally limits the full development of academic potentials of the girl child in that area. It is recommended that government should enact a law prohibiting parents irrespective of tribe and religion on forcing their female children to get married at tender age when ought to be in school, also map out strategies to encourage female education, there should be public enlightenment campaigns to educate parents on the importance of educating female children as well motivate women on the importance of education through scholarships, bursary award and other kinds of financial assistance