The importance of education of a girl child can never be over-emphasised. In both spiritual and temporal aspects of human existence, education is paramount. It is the light that shows the way by removing the darkness of ignorance; salt that gives the taste of life; the medicine that cures; and the key which open doors.
According to a Chinese proverb, education is the best legacy to give a child because “giving your child a skill is better than giving him or her thousand pieces of gold”. Many girls today, do not have adequate education past a certain age. The native traditional philosophy is that a woman’s place is in her husband’s kitchen and her primary role centers in her home. This belief has kept many girls away from education.
It has been established by researchers that enabling female education is crucial for national development, and role of women cannot be underestimated. The general belief is that “when you educate a man, you educate one, but when you educate a woman, you educate a nation”. This is so because the education of every child starts from the family and mother is the first teacher. Educating the girl child produces mothers who are educated and will in return educate their children, care for their family and provide for their children.
The Child’s Right Act should be strengthen and implemented in all states. This will go a long way in checkmating indiscriminate child abuse. Policy makers must also create an enabling environment for increasing gender participation in providing a valuable pipeline for the “educated girl child” to be transformed into women that will be agents of national transformation.
Paulina Jibrin,
University of Maiduguri.
