EDUCATION AND THE FUTURE OF THE GIRL CHILD

 

It is virtually impossible to look into the future, but if one could safely assume what the future may look like with the benefit of hindsight, it would be only but diplomatic to say that the future is not looking too bright, considering the number of onslaughts and misfortunes the nation has suffered, and without hesitation, neither education nor the girl child have been spared. Innocent citizens continue to suffer daily mentally, physically, economically, psychology etc without respite in sight. Access to good education is no longer the problem because, even after securing admission, paying dearly for tuition and other expenses, some students  have not been able to come out of the institution alive. Cases abound where students have been killed for no justifiable reason,  it is disheartening to know that many students especially the female students have suffered rape, kidnap, maiming, terror as well as other forms of violence without any significant action taking against the perpetrators of this wicked acts, and the impact of these unfortunate incidents can easily be seen in the falling and deteriorating standard of education, but the most affected in my opinion may be the overall subjective emotional evaluation of the self worth of the Nigerian students. 

Unarguably the female students are the most affected in all these attacks considering the fact that they are the most vulnerable segment of the population, according to UNICEF forty percent of Nigerian children aged 6-11 do not attend any primary school with the Northern region recording the lowest school attendance rate in the country, particularly for girls.This may have informed the reasons why People are no longer responsive to the issues affecting education or the girl child, by the way, in Nigeria it’s more of talk and less action, unlike in the more advanced societies of the world where certain unpleasant events are followed with protests, matches and industrial strikes, in the form of movements which most times attracts legislative and executive actions. In Nigeria it is a little less complex as people just chat and share posts on social media about the issues and after a while the entire situation blows over and the cycle continues. Even when there are industrial strikes they are usually targeted at increased wages and welfare for the workers or teachers/lecturers and little or nothing is done about the welfare of the students.  

The whisking away of the Chibok school girls of  2014 which witnessed the kidnap of over two hundred female students from a government school is to say list embarrassing, as if that was not enough about a hundred and ten school girls were again whisked away from another government school early this year. This is disheartening especially when juxtaposed with the brutality, senseless and ill-conceived treatment meted out on these little girls by their captors. If one should try to take a good look at the plight of the girl child in Nigeria vis a vis the horror and carnage unleashed on this poor, innocent and delicate creatures by brutal entities of the dark world, It will be easy to see that something is gravely wrong with our political, social, economic and psychological architecture, because aside the fact that these events sound like a plot in a horror movie, it is quite difficult to reckon with, but it is happening and has happened in Chibok, Dapchi and no one knows where next. In recent times the existence of a section of the country has been threatened and the entire structure is wavering, while some still watch as spectators gathered in a cinema watching the premier of a block buster movie, showing a sky scraper hanging on a balance, then gradually begins to descend, and as it descends the spectators are suddenly hit with the realization that the frail and falling structure which was a source of theatrical enjoyment, neglected, exploited and overstretched combined with its faulty foundation must have to give way. ironically, the same building  encompasses the cinema in which they are accommodated. In fact that there is little or no difference between their fate and that of the falling building which they have been watching. Inevitably, laughter turns into sadness and excitement turns into panic, the strong must have to trample on the weak to save themselves, the weak are too scared to stand up and defend themselves however whether weak or strong their plight is no different. 

No doubt the girl child has been maltreated especially by those who are supposed to protect them. While those who have chosen to go to school to become independent and carve out meaning out of life, have been at the receiving end because the schools are being attacked daily and the whole world can see these innocent, intelligent, young promising students killed or taken hostage and not just are their schools destroyed their future and dreams are destroyed as well. They are used as bargaining chips by kidnappers, political gladiators and some conspiracy theorists even posit that they are being used to score political points. Though so many conspiracy theories exist as to who or why such nefarious acts have been allowed to continue, one thing is certain no serious steps have been taking to ensure the safety of the students especially the girl child.

As the strikes on our schools persist the question is, what are these vulnerable students and their parents expected to do? Are our students expected to stay away from the schools, the effort of the government notwithstanding. The voices of the bring back our girls is no longer loud enough, the security apparatus blame each other, the government blame the people, the people in turn blame the government and on top of it all it is the students and their parents that continue to suffer.

The future of the country is being mortgaged as the youths may eventually decide to sit on the side line and watch from the comfort of their homes as the country continues to slide into hopelessness and neglect. It is often said that the youths are the leaders of tomorrow but today is the tomorrow you were worried about yesterday. Keeping in mind that these same students may never be leaders of tomorrow if they are not alive to see it. Education is known to be the basis for sound economic and social development, this has been the case in many countries.

Instead of the girl child to be pampered, they are battered, instead of caring for them they are killed, instead of protecting them they are decimated, instead of loving them they are destroyed, instead of educating them they are exterminated. It is enough that they have to contend with the horrible environment in schools where they are made to live in unwholesome conditions in their dormitories without proper ventilation, clean water, stable light, good food and adequate toilet facilities in most schools are lacking. Their school uniforms are not even suited for beggars. Even the society have not helped matters in view of some unfair cultural and religious practices. They are queens and should be treated as such. A woman president should not be out of place, even though political activities are made to extend to ungodly hours of the night to deprive them, and money politics may continue to deny them, it is better to put back these queens and princesses of depravity back in their rightful places.

The female students most often than not top their class and even out perform their male counterparts in the office. Is it now a crime to have an ambition as a female in a society like ours albeit to be a female student. It may even be better in my mind to suggest that we advocate for homeschooling, as was the case in the 1960s, when Rousas John Rushdoony saw it as a way to combat the secular nature of the public school system… however, in this case it could be to combat the unending assault on our students especially the female students.

Against all odds and existential realities, great women have emerged like green grass in the desert, some notable examples are Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, Helen Johnson sirleaf, Oprah Winfrey, Angela Merkel et al. Recently, a team of junior secondary school girls (Promise Nnalue, Jessica Osita, Nwabuaku Ossai, Adaeze Onuigho and Vivian Okoye) from Anambra state defeated teams from the United States, Spain, Turkey, Uzbekistan and China to win the 2018 Technovation World Pitch junior division in San Francisco, USA. The five girls together called “Team Save-A-Soul”, developed a mobile application called ‘FD Detector’ to tackle the problem of fake pharmaceutical products in the country-the app can confirm the authenticity and expiration status of a pharmaceutical drug by scanning the barcode, this is ground-breaking considering that the problems of fake drugs has attained global epidemic proportions. Yet there are persons who feel that female students do not have a place in our productive society and are better left to serve as domestic slaves in someone’s home.  God made man and woman in His image no woman deserves to be treated less. Our daughters voices cry out from the desert’s solitude, If there are still 'true men' then they must be willing and ready to protect the girl child with all their might. It is time to stand up and protect the future of each and every female child around us. we can start by saving Leah Sharibu today.