A popular aphorism which has been bruited ad infinitum says "If you educate a man you educate an individual, but if you educate a woman you educate a family (nation).” This soothing maxim is credited to the Ghanaian scholar Dr. James Emmanuel Kwegyir-Aggrey (1875-1927), one of this century's greatest educators who vehemently advocated for Girl Education. The neglect of the girls in preference for the education of the boys is rife in Africa and this can be attributed to some factors such as Africa culture, norms, erroneous beliefs and perceptions. That ONE is at the forefront/vanguard to bring to the front-burner and conscientize the African leaders of the African countries of the essentiality of educating girls underscores the importance of GIRLS EDUCATION as the fulcrum of achieving a better future for everyone. The girls have suffered so much untoward marginalization for too long and as a result, they must be extricated from the abyss of illiteracy and put paid to the trend of the prevalent psychological vice.
Educating the girls and or proliferating the level of their literacy opens new vistas for their immediate family and trickles down to the whole community. The intrinsic powers and potentials the girls (who would eventually become women) wield are just unimaginable which can be harnessed and exploited for the betterment of the community, the country and the African continent at large.
Have we ever considered the caregivers, nurses, grandmothers who dote on their grandchildren? They are incontestably girls-turned-women. The paid nannies, the indulgent women, the pregnant women who undergo laborious and rigorous life in order to ensure safe delivery and who are critical in the formative years of the babies are women. The rapprochement between the baby in the womb and the woman, the hush and unspoken conversations have far-reaching consequences on the ilk of children the babies would turn out to be and this will have direct effect on the retention or disruption of peace in the world.
However, it is heart-wrenching that the girls are deprived of education and seen a sex-fodder, nay, children producers, who are treated as slaves to be kept and used at men sudden whims. Over 60millions girls are out of school owing to the non-enlightened nature of their cultural society or the culpable guiltiness of the African leaders who treat education as an inconsequential venture for girls. The pervasive inkling in Africa is that regardless of the lofty height of the educational accomplishment of girls, they will eventually end up in the kitchen. This ingrained ideology must be blotted out.
However, the buck stops with the African leaders. It is high time they woke up from their reverie to promulgate and enact a fierce Educational Policy that will ensure that the girls are adequately educated. There must be mechanism which would be enforced by the security operatives to apprehend and punish erring parents of any girl seen peddling wares or hawking during the school hours. WE MUST STAND FOR GIRLS EDUCATION. I STAND FOR GIRLS EDUCATION
