The Girl-Child And The Poor Education Of Female Children In Urhobo Rural Communities

By Young Erhiurhoro

I write this short piece to join millions of Nigerians to commemorate the “International Day of the Girl-Child” as celebrated by the United Nations and the UNESCO all over the world few days ago. It’s an undisputable fact that gender based violence and crimes against female children in developing countries like Nigeria are very common. Issues of rape amongst minors and school children have become everyday news in the country. In the same way, gender inequality between male and female children especially in rural communities in the country have become unbearable. Cases of female children that are segregated and denied their inalienable rights by fathers and men in families and communities are uncountable. Nigeria is one of the countries in Africa that is badly affected by gender based violence and crimes on yearly basis. Many girls and ladies have continued to die as a result of ritual killings by bad boys in order to get rich.

However, I want to narrow down this short discourse to our various rural communities in Urhobo land and how our female children especially those residing in such communities at the moment are affected by lack of education. As it’s now in this 21st century in Nigeria, parents should know that education is a fundamental right of every child born to you as a parent. Every parent is duty bound to provide this divine service to his/her children whether boys or girls.

Here again, the issue of gender segregation and inequality comes in. In many rural communities across Urhobo land, many parents love to give education to their male children and leave the female ones behind. This is already segregation and oppression. Today, many of our daughters hardly finish from secondary schools, let alone higher institutions. This is badly affecting those communities in many ways unknowing to them. Is anything wrong if Nigerians and the world celebrate our daughters for one achievement or the other? Then, how can we produce these expected celebrities without education? In fact, this has created timidity and foolishness in many of our girls in rural communities. As civilized as this modern world, how many of our girls can be counted as classroom teachers? If we have none to present in the teaching profession, as common as it’s viewed today, is it in Law and Medicine we have girls to present?

To be frank, this story about our girls not acquiring education is not the same with our neigbouring ethnic groups especially Itsekiri and Isoko. These two ethnic groups mentioned have a lot of girls and women to present in different professions and careers. The zeal and urge of education is quite strong in them. It’s almost a competition in every family to count the number of girls you have produced as graduates, and are also doing well in their different chosen educational careers around the world. If we continue to cry and put our hands on our heads, saying Itsekiri is oppressing us especially as regards the issue of ownership of Warri, and their girls and women are being celebrated everyday, then we have missed our responsibilities as Urhobo parents.

ALSO READ: 6th National Youth Games: Catch Team Delta If You Can- Tonobok Okowa

Again, you need to see the surge with which our girls are venturing into pre-marital affairs these days. In fact, many of them are into prostitution and early marriages. This boyfriend-girlfriend relationship is very common and has become a norm and practice of our children. Girls of 18 years and below are happy to produce children in most rural communities. It’s a normal way of life in the village, that any girl who is not in this category is looked upon as an uncivilized or unexposed girl. Such a girl is the talk of the town and they will personally make jest of her. The multitudes of our girls have done away with integrity, self-control, purity and honesty as the order in olden days. Education is no longer relevant to them in any way. All their interest now is to hook up with any kind of boy just for the fun of bearing children.

In this threatening situation, their mothers are not left out. They continue to add fuel to already burning fire. Many of the mothers always encourage their female children to tow this part without seeing its grave dangers ahead. Many of them, instead of cautioning their girls to take their education seriously, point to them their age mates that have produced one or more children. What a mess!
Unfortunately, I have engaged a number of these girls in my community to sensitize them on the importance of acquiring education, at least, to complete secondary education before venturing into learning or acquiring a skill or trade. In fact, many of them rained insults on me, telling me that I was once a victim of the subject of discussion, and therefore shouldn’t talk to them. In most basic and secondary schools, the population of girls is much more than boys. But in my community, especially in the secondary school, boys outnumber girls in high rate. It’s very disgraceful! When our neighbours are pushing their children, both male and female into educational pursuit, while we are here pushing our daughters into early and unprepared marriages to produce wayward children for us because we need population to be able to produce a ward councilor or drag government attention easily. What a pity!

More importantly, this situation is very devastating as a result of poverty and high ignorance on the part of many parents in our villages. Yes, poverty is a psychological defect that can make one look foolish, even though he’s the wisest. We can’t really argue it that many of us are poor. This is why many parents are applying the economic tool of “scale of preference” to select the most important and pressing need. In this selection, the male children are always at advantage than the female children. The little money the parents have should be spent on the male children, leaving the girls. Even many of the parents will go to the extent of telling the girls that, they belong to other families after training. Therefore, to them, training or educating the female children is a waste of time and financial resources. Such monies should be carefully spent on the male children who will front the family lineage and keep the family name and title from extinction. Is this not sheer ignorance? How will a responsible parent tell his/her children that, my own parents didn’t send me to school in my time and therefore, the children should fend for themselves? Is such a parent mentally balanced?

Having said all these, then, what is the way forward? Obviously, ignorance is a psychological disease that can only be treated by acquiring the right knowledge at the right time. I have expected so many of our parents to learn from the mistakes of the past as their own parents neglected education and how this is badly telling on our psyche and affecting our various communities at the moment. We don’t even need to preach this gospel to anybody because we have heard so much about how education have made different girls to achieve greatness and honour to themselves, their families and communities in different careers and professions. If this is true, then we should be at the forefront to push our female children into acquiring good education. We must try to change this crude mentality of refusing to give education to female children in our various communities before it will definitely become a continuous practice, a norm and part of our culture. The earlier we start the better for us.

Secondly, community leadership has a lot to do in this area. They should establish “Education Committee” in the community to monitor educational progress of our children especially female children. Again, there should be a consensus agreement to enact a law in the community to create a special fund or scholarship for female children especially from the secondary school level. This will increase the zeal amongst such brilliant girls. This special scholarship should not be limited to only secondary school, but should be extended to tertiary level. The community leadership must take this seriously and work towards it without further delay. To achieve our target and objectives in this programme, the “Education Committee” whose duties is to handle or manage this special fund or scholarship, must try to remove personal interests and focus on the best and brilliant girls.

Thirdly, since many communities in Urhobo land are oil producing communities, there is an added advantage to seek for more opportunities from the oil companies in areas of skill acquisitions and capacity training for our girls. In such CSR programmes in the communities, our girls should be given much priority and consideration than, even the boys. The community leadership should again seek government attention over the plight of our girls and how to make them economically viable and self-dependent and add value to their husbands, children and the general society. Let’s train our girls into the “working class ladies”. It gives them more honour and respect when they eventually marry.

Conclusively, I want to end this short discourse by calling on parents in every rural community in Urhobo land to know that, the world is fast changing in so many areas of life. When the whistle is blown on the track line, you dare not stroll again as a runner. Since the whistle has been blown over decades ago, we continue to stroll until we are almost getting to the last. Truly, education is an expensive service to humanity on the part of government. This is why, everybody must join together to make it the best for our children. The government, individuals, corporate organizations, NGOs and the communities must join together to give our children especially the neglected female children the best they deserve in education. Urhobo parents, educate your female children from today!

Young Erhiurhoro Kjc, is a reporter and a member of the Urhobo Historical Society.