Limitations of Girl Child Education and Consequences on National Development in Nigeria: A Teachers’, Counsellors’ Perspective on Obudu Local Government Area.

Abstract

Aim: This research examined the limitations of girl child education and its consequences on national development. The major aim was to investigate through the lens of teachers and counsellors the factors limiting girl-child education and its consequences on nation-building in Nigeria. Specifically, answers were sought from teachers and counsellors in Obudu to address the following objectives: to understand the factors militating against girl child education in Obudu and the consequences of lack of girl-child education on national development. Theory: Literature was reviewed in chapter two to capture the entire variables of the study. Additionally, the study adopted two theories as theoretical undercurrents. The theories utilized for the study include Radical Feminism Theory and Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological System Theory. They considered the reasons and need for women’s agitation for equality and education as well as ecological (environmental) factors which hinder the freedom and rights of women. Keywords and phrases used in the search were girl-child, feminism, education, and national development. Also, the database referenced includes 3 previous works on the subject matter, Wikipedia, Google, and researchgate. Method: The research method adopted was a descriptive survey design. Questionnaires were administered to one hundred (100) respondents who were teachers or counselors in Obudu Local Government Area. A set of Likert-scale items were formulated under each question. Further, the primary data collected from fieldwork were analyzed in univariate for frequency and percentage distribution. These were executed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20.0 Results: The result revealed that unavailability of single-sex schools, poverty, early marriage, and pregnancy are the major factors limiting girl child education in Obudu. And that, when girls do not get proper education, gender disparities and inequality gaps will increase: crime rates will spiral, commercial sex hawking will be on the high, and there will be a low turnup of women in civic and political activities as well as high risk of sexually transmitted diseases and increase in mother-to-child mortality rate.