Impact of girl child education on the academic performance of students in secondary School
ABSTRACT
The main thrust of this thesis is to investigate Impact of girl child education on the academic performance of students in secondary School.Despite the fact that girls in Nigeria are doing better than those in other counties their performance is not as good as that of boys thus the need to explore the factors influencing their performance so that there is gender streamlining in the WAEC results achieved yearly. The researcher has identified factors that affect the academic performance of girls. They include cultural factors, availability of mentors, sexuality and family background. The research design that was employed in the study was descriptive survey research which is a method of collecting information by interviewing or administering questionnaires and observation guides. It also incorporated both qualitative and quantitative analysis of data. . The target population consists of 331 female students as well as 148 teachers within Lagos state both private and public schools. The questionnaires were dropped in fifteen schools and three research assistants administered the questionnaires. Each research assistant was covering five schools.. The data coded was later analyzed through SPSS and percentages obtained were used to examine how the mentioned variables influence the academic performance of the girls. The findings of the study were that the girl child’s academic performance in Nigeria is influenced by cultural factors, availability of mentors, sexuality and family background. The study therefore recommends that (1) Intensive efforts to foster a gender inclusive culture from the family level through education, across the board up to higher education, in order to promote sustainable human development need to be vigorously pursued by governmental and non-governmental organizations. (2)An enforcement of available legislation on principle of gender equality in education should be adhered vigorously to ensure a greater percentage of the girl child are being enrolled into the educational system. (3) The issue of girl child education must be taken very serious by both parents and the government by banning street hawking among school girls, discouraging early marriage, and forced labour.