It has been the belief of some part of the world that a girl child needs no education and extensively a woman - a property, gender discrimination didn't just start at this time, it has been in existence since way back in the 50's, although, there are many factors that contributes to this such as;
- Parental Illiteracy
- Cultural beliefs
- Poverty
- Mental disability amongst others.
Poor girls from rural areas with uneducated mothers are the children most likely to be excluded from learning opportunities. In West and Central Africa, more than 40 per cent of secondary school-aged girls are not in school and more than 60 per cent of illiterate young people in the world are women. - UNESCO Institute for Statistics database
This been the case, the Government, Private sectors/philanthropists, and every individual in general has a role to play, not only to educate girls but to help make education as easy to access as possible not because children deserves education but because education is a key factor to attain a better future for the world at large as literacy goes a long way in helping make the world a better place.
To educate means to train the mind, character and abilities of individuals. Education is a fundamental human right that should be availed to all citizens irrespective of age, sex and nationality. There are a lot of human right instruments that provide for education as a fundamental right.
The importance of education in the life of an individual can never be overemphasized. In both spiritual and temporal or mundane aspects of human existence, education is paramount. It is the light that shows the way by removing the darkness of ignorance; the salt that gives the taste of life; the medicine that cures; and the key which open doors.
Enough of the importance of education, why not lets look at how Illiteracy affects the world at large?
When children are not educated especially girls, they tend to become a liability to the society, making most of them still fully dependent even in adulthood, surely, that is not so good, it also makes them disorganized, I've seen a lot of that, even the few of them that tries to be entrepreneurs don't really get a hang of it as they go by their various endeavors in a radical and disordered manner.
Most uneducated young lads tends to engage in violent activities especially when they feel like they have nothing else to hope for since the world is faat civilising and leaving them behind, personally, i don't blame such set of lads because according to Biology, all living organisms fights for survival when they feel life will end if nothing is done soon enough, most youth are involved in armed rubbery and cultism not because they want to but because they feel they will get something better out of it to survive another day, same thing goes to young ladies engaged in prostitution and all sort of immoralities not because they are born that way but because they have to feed and live a good life irrespective of how uneducated and unsupported they are.
Young girls in this perspective has a greater unfair share because they end up being used, abused, molested and manipulated in several unimaginable ways that hurts so bad in many ways, for instance, uneducated girls fall victim to being sold into slavery (yes slavery still does exist), used as sexual prisoners, child marriage, kidnap, brutalised and so many more, and some of them that tried their best to get a good suitor (boyfriend /husband) still fall back to their predicament if their benefactor dies or neglets them, most uneducated Nigerian girls now engage in prostitution hiding under the name slay-mamas/slay-queens and this slay-beings are been killed and used in several occasions for money ritual by uneducated desperate young boys too, how heartbreaking this can be, but it's a simple truth.
Child marriage
Of the 320,000-plus Mexican girls between the ages of 12 and 17 who are cohabiting, nearly 70% are with a partner who is at least 11 years their senior, according - Report commissioned by the Ford Foundation.
The above research showed that 92% of girls that dropped out of school that year got 82% married off to older men that same year, i can only but wonder what kind of hardship those innocent girls will be exposed to at such tender age, the same goes for the young boys who happen to drop out of school, they also have their share of the hardship which will either lead them into doing and pushing hard drugs or doing all sort of illicit act, to crown it all up, child marriage is not the best and will only succeed in putting more children lives into jeopardy.
Child Labour
This is a very serious one, it is an indirect way of child abuse especially for a girl child because girls are weaker and easier to manipulate. Child labour is mainy cause by poverty and that's why i called it an indirect way of child abuse such that such that it can not be eradicated without eradicating poverty first. So many factors are attached to poverty thereby leading to child labour such as hawking amongst other, examples are;
- socioeconomic pressure on parents
- Health disability and diseases such as polio and HIV
- Terrorism
- Death of parent at a tender age amongst others.
Consequences Of Child Labour
Child labour does much more than deprive children of their educational, mental and physical development than we think - Their childhood is stolen.
Without eradicating poverty, eradicating girl child labour and uneducation might be unachievable.
References
TheGuardian
ECLT
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