THE GIRL CHILD EDUCATION.

The education of a child is one of the primary responsibilities of the parents. The family circle as we all know is the first institution of learning and the first agent of political sociization of a child, where the child learns by imitation from the parents before enrolling in a formal educational settings. Parents plays a very vital role in shaping and moulding the characters of children be it positively or negatively, hence the behaviour of a child is mostly attributed to that of the parents and this calls for serious attention for good parenting. The cognitive development of a child from the formative years to puberty (adolescent age) to adulthood is a very tasking role for parents and the society in general. Child development is a collective responsibility for both the parents, teachers, all responsible adults and the general society as a whole for the overall well-being of the child.

                         THE GIRL CHILD.       

In some societies, climes, mostly in under-developed, low and middle income countries certain cultural and religious factors plays out negatively towards the educational advancement and attainment of a particular sex of a child. In Africa, using the Nigerian context as a study, the issue of child preference has a very serious deep rooted cultural and traditional beliefs whereby families and parents that gives birth to an all female children are perceived not to have children at all. Family members and community elders normally mount pressures on their sons and their daughter in-laws to give them male children for inheritance of the family name, heritage and family prestige. This belief system is a strong cultural barrier to the girl child empowerment and equality of her rights and privileges as a child.

IF YOU EDUCATE A GIRL CHILD YOU EDUCATE A NATION.

Sex preference has always been one of the issues that distorts the girl child educational advancement and attainment, where most low income families prefer sending the boy child to school and leaving the girl child behind, with the intention of giving her out in marriage to a suitor. This has been the norm in most poor rural families who do not understand or see the need for the girl child education. Most illiterate rural parents sees the education of the girl child as a waste of the family resources and income. And as such leave the girl child behind for early marriage.  The decline in child enrolment in schools is particularly worse for the girl child as families prioritise training the boy child where personal funds are involved. This is one of the biggest challenges facing poor rural girls who have no option or a say about their future, but to just accept their fate as a child. Education plays a very pivotal role in girls and women empowerment and as such should be given adequate attention by all and sundry. Education helps the girl child in achieving her purpose in life and ensuring gender equality. Education empowers girls to overcome inequality, unlock their potential, and helps them to realise their rights. Education also helps keep girls safe from gender based violence, including child marriage. If you "educate a girl child" you educate a nation. Qualitative education enhances a girl child understanding of her social environment and to be more conscious actor in that environment.

THE GIRL CHILD SHOULD BE PROTECTED AGAINST ALL FORMS OF HARMFUL PRACTICES AND ABUSES.

Each year, 12 million girls are married off before they turn age 18, meaning every minute, 22 more girls have their futures cut short. In a pandemic where schools are shut down and families struggle to make ends meet, this boils down to more child marriage. Women and girls account for 70% of the world's hungry, and as families struggles, girls are more likely than boys to be taken out of school, and will be at risk of child, early and forced marriage. Girls and women are most likely to suffer negative impact of rigid gender norms and roles, ultimately restricting their freedom and mobility. Nigeria have a whooping 18.5 million of kids who are out of school. 60% of total number of kids who are not accessing education are girls (source : UNICEF)

EVERY GIRL CHILD DESERVES THE RIGHT TO QUALITY EDUCATION.

 

Education as one of the seventeen sustainable development goals of the United Nations is a fundamental human rights of every child, the girl child inclusive. Leaving the girl child behind in empowering her through education will only spell doom for young girls who later in life become mothers with no meaningful source of earning, and as such becomes a liability and are totatally dependent on their husbands for economic survival and sustenance. This is mostly worst in situations whereby the girl child (now a mother) unfortunately loses her husband to death as the only bread winner of the family. The woman bears the burden of raising the children totally on her own, with no sustainable livelihood and this makes her more vulnerable to poverty, lack and possibly drive her into prostitution for survival. Statistics have shown that 1 in every 5 girls and women is "NEET" (Not in Education, Empowerment or Training). This calls for a "Clarion call for action" to take girl child education and empowerment more seriously to ensure the achievement of gender equality and parity in all spheres of life with their male counterpart and in all field of endeavours. Policy makers and duty bearers should enact policies and promulgate laws to enhance girls and women empowerment in all spheres of life.

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOAL 4 (QUALITY EDUCATION) FOR THE GIRL CHILD.

 Nigeria is one of the signitaries of the United Nations sustainable development goals that was signed by 193 countries on 27th September 2015 at the United Nations summit in New York, USA, with 169 targets and 231 indicators to be achieved globally by 2030. In 2019, world leaders called for a decade of action and delivery for sustainable development, and pledged to mobilize financing, enhance national implementation and strengthen institutions to achieve the goals by the target date of 2030, leaving no one behind. And we have just barely eight years from now to achieve these goals. The germane question here is, how far has Nigeria as a country gone in achieving these goals? most especially goal 4 (quality education) and goal 5 (Gender equality).

           THE DECADE OF ACTION

       

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOAL 5 (GENDER EQUALITY) 

The United Nations adopted goal 5 (gender equality) as one of the seventeen sustainable development goals (SDGs) in 2015, all in the quest to close the gender gap, to eradicate gender inequalities, break barriers and bias against girls and women and to achieve gender parity by 2030. But the coming of COVID-19 pandemic has increased and widened the gender gap by one hundred years. According to the world economic forum's global gender gap report (WEF 2021), it predicts that it will now take one hundred and thirty six years to reach gender equality and close the global gender gap. This calls for urgent steps and actions to be taken by global leaders and all relevant stakeholders concern to take decisive actions that will empowered young girls and women economically, educationally, socially, politically and financially to make them independent and economically viable and relevant to be able to compete with their male counterpart to bridged the gender gaps.

AGENDA 2030 - LEAVING NO GIRL CHILD BEHIND.

Girls rights are human rights and this rights should be respected by everyone in the society. Girls and women have rights to bodily autonomy, privacy and choice. The "Educate A Girl Child" project initiated by me is aimed at tackling and addressing the issues embedded in the sustainable development goal 4 (quality education) and 5 (gender equality) which are as follows;

Goal 4 (Quality Education):

Target 4.1 -  Universal primary and secondary education.

Target 4.3 - Equal access to technical/vocational and higher education.

Target 4.4 - Relevant skills for decent work.

Target 4.5 - Gender equality and inclusion.

Target 4.6 - Universal youth literacy.

Target 4.7 - Education for sustainable development and global citizenship.

Goal 5 (Gender Equality)

Target 5.1 - End all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere.

Target 5.3 - Eliminate all harmful practices such as child, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation.

GIRL'S RIGHTS ARE HUMAN RIGHTS.

A BRIEF PERSONAL BACKGROUND OF MR. ENOBONG EKWERE ( EDUCATION RIGHTS ADVOCATE) IN NIGERIA.

Comrade Enobong Ekwere is a social influencer, blogger, vlogger, human rights activist, peace practitioner, SDGs advocate, grassroot social mobilizer and a global citizen. He is the program manager of Children and Young People Living for Peace (CYPLP), an organic, voluntary, youth focused and a think-tank non-governmental organization based in Kaduna state, Nigeria. He is also a practicing teacher by profession.  He holds a Higher National Diploma (HND) Public Administration (Upper Credit) from the Federal Polytechnic, Bida, Niger State, Nigeria. Enobong Ekwere holds a proficiency certificate in management from the Nigerian Institute of Management, Chartered (NIM) Lagos, Nigeria. He is also a graduate member of the institute (Associate member in view). He works with young people in local communities across Nigeria localizing the sustainable development goals (SDGs) SDG4 (Quality Education) and SDG5 (Gender Equality) in particular and positive peace frameworks in Nigeria, accelerating action online and offline, engaging duty bearers and policy makers to be accountable for its implementation by 2030. Enobong Ekwere is a strong advocate of good governance and democracy, accountability in government, freedom of information, access to information, free press, social justice and social inclusion. As a youth advocate and a global leader who loves to see social reforms in the society, he uses his personalized blog to write compelling stories on developmental and topical issues on national and global concern that shapes and transform people's lives and impact the larger society for knowledge transfer and lifelong learning. He engages in community service and volunteerism, community outreach, social mobilization and advocacy tours to hard to reach local communities in Nigeria advocating and advancing the cause of the SDGs, SDG4 and SDG5 in particular so that no community, youth and the girl child would be left behind. CYPLP as an organization works primarily in serving vulnerable population of children, youth and women in unserved, underserved, disadvantaged, underrepresented and marginalized local communities in Nigeria. He can be reached via:

Tel: +2347082558952

Email: julyenobong2020@gmail.com

            : enobongekwere825@gmail.com

MY PERSONAL SOCIAL MEDIA HANDLES:

FACEBOOK: 

https://www.facebook.com/enobong.ekwere.372

TWITTER: 

http://www.twitter.com/Enobongekwere2

INSTAGRAM: 

http://www.instagram.com/enobongekwere825

LINKEDIN: 

https://www.LinkedIn.com/in/enobong-ekwere-3271b116b

MY ORGANIZATION'S SOCIAL MEDIA HANDLES:

FACEBOOK: 

https://www.facebook.com/cyplp.net.ng/

TWITTER: 

http://www.twitter.com/youngpeoplefor/

INSTAGRAM: 

http://www.instagram.com/cyplp/

WEBSITE: 

www.cyplp.net.ng

1. ACADEMIC QUALIFICATIONS:

HIGHER NATIONAL DIPLOMA (HND) CERTIFICATE, 2014.

NATIONAL YOUTH SERVICE CORPS (NYSC) SCHEME CERTIFICATE, (2015/2016 YEAR).

2. PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS:

PROFICIENCY CERTIFICATE IN MANAGEMENT (NIM) 2016.

GRADUATE MEMBERSHIP CERTIFICATE (NIM) 2016.