Educate a girl and reduce poverty

By Deborah Iyebu

Despite the enormous progress of Universal Primary Education which has raised primary school enrolment from 2.7 to over 8.2 million in recent years, girls continue to suffer exclusion in education systems.

The school dropout rate is highest after four or five years of education. This is due to a number of factors including early marriage, pregnancies and peer pressure, illness, disability, low self-esteem, high mobility, disintegrated families, and the need to look after their children.

The child’s family background greatly affects their educational outcomes and is commonly viewed as the most important determinant of schooling achievement. Parents have an amazing impact upon their girl child’s academic success or failure. Negative parental attitudes about school, low expectations, and poor parenting style contribute to poor performance and ultimately to school dropout.

Parental socioeconomic status in terms of education, occupation, and income, family stability, preferences, attitudes, and how well families are informed about the importance of education in society greatly determine the child’s retention at school.

Girls’ education is both an inherent right and a vital stepping stone to attaining other development objectives. Providing girls with an education helps break the cycle of poverty, educated women are less likely to marry early and against their will, less likely to die in childbirth, more likely to have healthy babies with reduced mortality rates, and are more likely to send their children to school.

Other benefits include, ,Improvement of child nutrition and health, Lower birth rates, Enhancement of women's participation at political, social and economic spheres, Improvement of the economic productivity and growth, Protection of girls from HIV and AIDS, abuse and exploitation.

Education leads to greater self-esteem and self-confidence, and opens up new horizons for girls, enabling them to discover their own potential, to develop themselves fully and increase their resistance to gender discrimination.

On economic gains, an educated woman is better equipped to increase family income and resolve family problems satisfactorily. Her family’s wellbeing thus gets a big boost.

Today, it is generally recognized and appreciated that the education of girls and women is one of the wisest and most profitable investments in social and economic terms. The benefits of girl child education go beyond benefiting the girl but also benefit her family, the community, society and the whole country.

Educating girls is the surest path to smaller, healthier and better-educated families. Women spend more time than men do in caring for children.  Resources that women control go more directly to help the family than do the resources that men control. The more education a woman has, the more likely to earn a higher income, this will go to benefit her family.

Girl children who stay in school and perform successfully tend to have parents who are informed, concerned, and involved with their child’s education. Children with parents who have limited resources must be encouraged by their school counselors and teachers to be resilient and fight through the challenges and potential likelihood of dropping out.

Dropping out of school presents the girl child with various challenges All parents are challenged to consider the long-term consequences associated with denying the girl child this fundamental right even though the child might lack the motivation to persevere through the academic rigors.

Education is the process of impacting, learning and gaining skills, knowledge, morals and behavior. It enables the child to realize his or her full potential to think, ask questions and judge independently. It enables him or her to make wise decisions as well as develop sense of belonging by learning how to respect, love one another and become a useful member of the society. The lack of education denies the girl child knowledge and skills needed to advance their status.

However, Education alone is obviously not enough to solve the world’s problems, but it remains an essential factor in any development activity.

The writer is the Projects Officer at Global Rights Alert and has special interest in Children and women.