UNICEF takes gender imbalance in child education head-on

At a two-day Media Dialogue to Promote Equity in Education for Children, which held in Kano on October 29 and 30, the United Nations Children Education Fund (UNICEF) focused emphasis on out-of-school children who it said numbered about 10.5 million between age 6 and 14 in Nigeria and have been left behind in the scheme of things, as it were.

What worsens the plight of the out-of-school children is that they have played no role in the decision that put their future in jeopardy; they merely carried out the decision as handed them by their parents and guardians.

But the UNICEF has also discovered a worsening dimension accentuated by gender imbalance that encourages more male children to go to school, especially in Northern Nigeria, while their female counterparts either remain at homes doing chores or married off at early age.

“Contrary to widespread opinion, however, out-of-school children don’t pertain to only Northern Nigeria as there are other areas in the country where female children also do not attend school,” Education Specialist, UNICEF, Mrs. Azuka Menkiti (pictured), said in a lecture she presented titled ‘Gaps in Education Access in Nigeria: a situation analysis and what UNICEF is doing’ that the society had created the imbalance which suggests that only the male child can succeed in life more than the female child. “Nothing can be farther from the reality,” Mrs. Menkiti remarked, saying all children regardless of gender deserve equal opportunity to attend school.

The UNICEF official put the out-of-school children of between 6 and 14 years in the Southern Nigeria at 11% while the Northern part soared with 31%. “The difference is a function of awareness and readiness to adapt to reality and the lack of both,” she posited.

According to Mrs. Menkiti, poverty also added to the gender issue, arguing that education becomes unattractive to parents or guardians who could barely feed, let alone afford the funds required to put their wards in schools. This, she said, explains why some parents would rather have their wards join them in their subsistent farming and other trades than attend school.

“Poor implementation of education policy and laws, poor learning outcomes, low budgetary allocation, release and utilization, threat to security, perceived incompatibility of formal education with Islamic education are all impediments, in addition to the poverty which makes the parents see putting the girl child to early marriage as a social norm.”

UNICEF is however undeterred by these debilitating challenges as Mrs. Menkiti outlined targeting out-of-school children as “utmost priority”.

“We are going to embark on massive girls’ education and at the same time help them to combine the formal and Islamic education more comfortably.

“We are also embarking on a programme we have tagged ‘Education in emergency’. This will target reaching out to as many children as possible in the troubled North Eastern Nigeria as we believe that no matter what, the children in that part of the country also deserve education. Aside building capacity and influencing policies, we would build partnerships and networks with relevant institutions and groups.”

Mrs. Menkiti would however not be categorical about the UNICEF’s target of the ‘turnaround year’ for the girls’ education. “We do reviews of our programmes periodically and draw up further action plans,” she said, stressing, “This year alone, we target one million girl child in Northern Nigeria and we have gone well past half way already with about two months to the end of 2018.”

At the opening of the Media Dialogue, UNICEF’s Communication Specialist, Mr. Geoffrey Njoku, urged journalists to spare no effort in highlighting the importance of children education to government at all levels in Nigeria, bearing in mind the implication of doing otherwise.

“If we breed kid illiterates today, they will grow up to be adult illiterates and the ultimate danger they would pose to the society can only be imagined,” Njoku submitted, even as he also urged bloggers and social media activists to join in the resolve to rescue the bleak education future of the Nigerian child.

“The future of Nigerian media is social media. Research shows that about 26million Nigerians are on Facebook daily, with 161million using mobile phones and 40% Nigerians listening to the radio on their mobile phones,” the communication specialist disclosed.

Head, CRIB, at the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture, Mr. Olumide Osanyinpeju, who represented the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said the ministry’s collaboration with UNICEF for the event aimed at giving the Nigerian child quality education that would ultimately reflect on the overall future development of the country.

“Our commitment in this regard is total and irrevocable and I want to enjoin the media personalities in this gathering to help the public to understand that this onerous task is achievable,” Osanyinpeju said.

UNICEF’s Chief of Communication, Eliana Drakopoulos, also harped on sustained partnerships among all stakeholders, saying no other effort could guarantee success in ensuring wholesome education for the
Nigerian child. “The future of Nigeria is too vital for all those involved in educating these children to waver in their resolve,” the Greek-born official stated.

Education and Development Consultant, Dr. Bayo Ogundimu, who delivered a paper titled ‘Poor/Inequitable Access to Education in Nigeria: what can Nigeria do to close the gap?’, said a redefinition of what he called the education system was urgently needed if Nigeria must remain relevant in global affairs.

“Education is fundamental to the development of any country and the percentage of out-of-school children in Nigeria portrays a grim picture of our country’s future,” the scholar lamented.

Dr. Ogundimu identified bad planning, lack of political will, poor and inadequate infrastructure, failure to engage other countries in mutual partnerships and irregular payment of teachers’ wages as some of the challenges militating against access to quality education in Nigeria, although he stressed that religion and culture also posed a formidable threat.

He said although the school feeding programme introduced by government in some states had helped stemmed the tide of out-of-school malaise, effective scholarship and bursary scheme across a broad spectrum would also serve as incentive for poverty-stricken families that could not afford quality education for their wards.

“If we really want the best for the future of these children, we should stop acting as though the palliative measures they badly need are a rocket science,” he counselled.