Stella van Petten Henderson defines Education as “a combination of growth and human development with social legacy. Kohnstamm and Gunning (1995): Education is the formation of conscience. Education is a process of self-formation and self-determination ethically, conformed conscience”.
To break it down, education is the act or process of formally or informally imparting or learning an idea or general knowledge, which in turn catalysts the learner to an all-around development that could trigger a change in one’s lifestyle thereby developing the society.
According to a Chinese proverb, education is the best legacy to give a child because “giving your child a skill is better than giving him or her thousand pieces of gold.” Truth is many girls today do not have a proper education, a privilege the male gender is enjoying. The African traditional philosophy also believes that a woman’s place is in her husband’s kitchen and she is condemned to building her home and children in particular.
Who is a girl child?
A girl child is a special specie of human evolving into a woman with a fresh start. A girl child is always around you. Maybe you know her? Truth is, She could be your daughter. Probably your sister. She is your mother, your aunt, your grandmother, your friend, or your colleague.
Just like every other human, a girl child needs special care, she needs to be cherished and cared for. Girl-child education is a special term used to describe and describe a complex set of issues and debates webbing on girls, women, and their ability to fit into our present society.
Making sure that all girls and young women receive an equal and more importantly quality education is their human right.
Primarily, girls’ education does not mean sending a girl to a school- formal or informal. It also goes to highlights their safety and development while in school or obtaining any kind of education. It also means making sure that a girl child competes favorably in the labor market; gains socio-emotional and life skills necessary to navigate and adapt to a changing world. They should be able to make decisions about their own lives and contribute to their communities and the world.
The Challenge
According to UNESCO estimates, in the world today, 129 million girls are out of school, this includes- 32 million of primary school age and 97 million secondary school age. These are a few of its challenges:
Again, some people believe that Western education has achieved its liberating objective, of course for the wrong purpose, by giving, most sadly, African women the impetus to conceive what’s right as bad. These are other challenges:
- Gender bias
- Poverty
- Violence
- Child marriage
- Cost.
- Child Marriage.
- Menstruation.
- Household Chores.
- Gender-Based Violence.
- Conflict and Crisis.
- Trafficking
Importance of girl child education
Today, girl child education is in extremely high demand, here are a few reasons why –
EMPOWERMENT: Educating the girl child, in other ways helps empower and develop the state, country, and the world in general.
AWARENESS: Educating the girl child helps create an awareness in the society thereby eliminating the philosophy that women belong to the kitchen.
HYGIENE: Educated girls help them to create all-around hygiene and a healthy lifestyle which will indirectly help cater to their children’s needs better.
A SOURCE OF INSPIRATION: An Educated woman is a source of inspiration, dignity, and honor to society. They can also become a source of inspiration for young girls who can indirectly make them their role models.
Educated girls always prove to be quite successful in their respective professions because of their ambitious nature. It gives her a chance to be a successful doctor, engineer, scientist, etc.
FAST FORWARD: The National Girl Child Day 2022 Theme was ‘Digital Generation, Our Generation.
National Girl Day 2023
The National Girl Child Day aims to –
-Aim at providing support and opportunities to girls in every part of the world.
-Aim at Raising and creating adequate awareness regarding inequalities faced by girl children.
-Helps to Educate on the importance of female education, health care, and nutrition.