Abstract: Despite the benefits of education as a tool for economic emancipation and social integration, girls in the North Eastern part as well as other parts of northern Nigeria lagged behind in major indices of being educated. This paper examined the challenges and solution of girls’ education in North East Nigeria. To access the needed information, the paper relied on qualitative data, entailing the use of in-depth interviews and focus group discussions in three States of Adamawa, Bauchi and Gombe. Identified challenges restricting girls education from the result of the study include: traditional/cultural factors such as: low rating of the girl child by the society, early marriage occasioned by need to procreate, fulfill religious obligation and the need to encourage chastity; parents’ inabilities to pay for the education of their girls. Additionally, the experiences of violence, security concerns, inadequate laws supporting girls’ education and poor administration of the entire system of education have been major reasons why girls stayed away from schools. Outlined solutions by participants in the study to overcome known challenges include: awareness/advocacy on the benefits of girls education to major stakeholders to reduce all cultural issues militating improve girls education; enactment of new legislations to encourage the girl child education; free education for the girl child and enhancement of income generating options for parents of schooling girls. To reduce security concerns and violence in school, the paper called on government to provide adequate security for schools, while school heads should monitor students’ discipline of fellow students. Lastly, governments at all levels were asked to provide female friendly infrastructure, adequate funding to schools, build only girls schools and to provide female tutors who will serve as role models to the girls in school.
Keywords: Girls, Schooling, Challenges, North East, Nigeria.
Title: Girls and Schooling: Examining the Challenges of Girls’ Education in North-Eastern Nigeria
Author: Johnson E. Dudu, Talatu Banu, Iroroturi Otto
International Journal of Social Science and Humanities Research
ISSN 2348-3156 (Print), ISSN 2348-3164 (online)
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