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African Journal of Reproductive Health Sept. 2010 (Special Issue); 14(3): 107
ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE
Girl Child Education: Rising to the Challenge
Grace Nmadu1, Solomon Avidime2, Olugbenga Oguntunde1, Vehcit Dashe3 Binta
Abdulkarim4, Mairo Mandara2
1Department of Community Medicine, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria; 2Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology,
Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Zaria; 3Department of Physical and Health Education, Ahmadu Bello
University, Zaria; 4Department of Mathematics and Science Education, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.
*For Correspondence: Grace Nmadu. E-mail: jumainmadu@yahoo.com.
Abstract
Northern Nigeria‟s high gender inequity in education places the majority of young girls at a severe
disadvantage. This cross-sectional study examined enrolment, dropout, and primary school completion rates
in three communities in Kaduna State. Less than half of young people (6 – 25 years) living in northern
Nigeria are currently enrolled in school and the majority of students are males (60%). This study‟s findings
indicate there are nearly twice as many boys graduating from primary school as compared to girls, and the
dropout rate for boys is close to half (3%) of the dropout rate for girls (5.4%). Sustained imputs are needed
to boost female enrolment in junior secondary schools, create girl-friendly school environments, and to better
enable communities to understand the value of girls' education (Afr. J. Reprod. Health 2010; 14[3]: 107-112).
Résumé
Education de la jeune fille : Se monter à la hauteur des circonstances. Le haut niveau de l‟injustice fondée sur les
sexes au nord du Nigéria dans le domaine de l‟éducation défavorise beaucoup les jeunes filles. Cette étude transversale
a examiné l‟inscription, les taux d‟abandon et d‟achèvement d‟études primaires dans trois communautés dans l‟état de
Kaduna. Moins d‟une moitié de jeunes gens (6-25 ans) qui habitent au nord du Nigéria sont actuellement inscrits à
l‟école et la majorité des étudiants sont des mâles (60%). Les résultats de cette étude montre qu‟il y a à peu près deux
fois le nombre de garçons qui obtiennent leurs certificats d‟études primaires par rapport aux filles et le taux d‟abandon
chez les garçons est presque la moitié (3%) du taux d‟abandon chez les garçons (5 ,4%). Pour encourager l‟inscription
dans les collèges (Junior), pour créer des milieux éducatifs qui sont favorables aux filles et pour mieux permettre aux
communautés de comprendre la valeur de l‟éducation des filles, il faut avoir des apports durables (Afr. J. Reprod. Health
2010; 14[3]: 107-112).
Key words: Girl child education, school enrolment, retention, gender parity, maternal mortality, northern Nigeria.
Introduction
Education is an important foundation to imp-rove the
status of women and has also been recognised as a
fundamental strategy for development. No sustaina-
ble development is possible if women remain un-
educated, discriminated against and disenfranchi-
sed. Improving and widening access to education,
especially basic education, is not only an objective
in itself but also accelerates social and economic
advancement1. The evidence is out: nations that in-
vest in girls‟ education enhance economic producti-
vity and growth. In fact, the World Bank has stated
that there is no investment more effective for achie-
ving development goals than educating girls2.
The second Millennium Development Goal chal-
lenges the international community‟s commitment to
ensure universal primary school completion and to
eliminate gender disparities in primary and secon-
dary education by 2015. This goal is grounded in
the recognition that access to basic education is a
human right, and a vital part of individuals‟ capacity
to lead lives that they value3. In addition, education
is a powerful instrument that enables women to ac-
cess a variety of opportunities, while rendering them
less vulnerable to HIV/AIDS, abuse, and exploita-
tion2.
Maternal mortality is one of the strongest pre-
dictors of the health of a nation and reflects the dis-
parities between wealthy and poor nations more
than any other measure of health4. As an indicator
of inequality, maternal mortality is considered by
many to be a measure of a woman‟s places in so-
ciety, representing the accessibility of social sup-
African Journal of Reproductive Health Sept. 2010 (Special Issue); 14(3): 108
port, economic opportunities, and health care. In
addition, the two measures of gender inequality
relating to education, (female literacy rate and com-
bined education enrolment ratio) are predictors of
maternal mortality4.
Improving basic education, especially female
education, has a powerful influence on both morta-
lity and fertility. Indeed, the close relationship bet-
ween education and demographic changes has
clearly emerged in a number of recent empirical stu-
dies. A wide range of theoretical analyses from
different disciplines confirms that education impro-
ves health and reduces fertility5. For example, wo-
men with formal education are much more likely to
use reliable family planning methods, delay marri-
age and childbearing, and have fewer (and health-
ier) babies than women with no formal education.
The effect is particularly pronounced for secondary
school. Women with a secondary school education
tend to have better knowledge about health care
practices, are less likely to become pregnant at a
very young age, tend to have fewer, better-spaced
pregnancies, and are more likely to seek antenatal
care, postnatal care, and skilled attendance at deli-
very. The effect is profound: for each additional year
of schooling provided to young women, fertility
declines by 10%. In fact, is has been estimated that
one additional year of school for 1,000 women
would avert two maternal deaths2.
A 2001 study of Nepal and Venezuela shows
that a woman with six years of even poor quality
schooling can maintain basic literacy skills into
adulthood. This exposure to school, paired with
basic literacy skills may predict specific aspects of
her adult behaviour. Levine et al. argue that she
learns an “academic register” which can be consi-
dered “the official language of all bureaucracies”
including schools. Knowing how to speak this lan-
guage may lead to greater confidence and increa-
sed usage of healthcare services6.
Improving the quality and coverage of educa-
tion, especially for girls, is key to Nigeria‟s economic
development. Since the 1985 Nairobi Declaration
and the 1990 World Declaration on Education for all,
numerous strategies, policies and programs to imp-
rove levels of female education were conceived and
implemented by successive governments. Some
earnest efforts have been made to improve the
efficiency and quality of the educational system, and
to increase the relevance of education for Nigerian
students1.
Unfortunately, gender gaps in education still
exist. The national literacy rate for females is only
48%, compared to 73% for males, with certain sta-
tes having even lower rates of female literacy,
enrolment, and achievement7. Girls‟ access to basic
education, especially in the northern states, has re-
mained low. As few as 20% of women in the north-
west and northeast of the country are literate and
have attended school. In the Northern part of the
country, the number of children out of school is
particularly high and the proportion of girls to boys in
school ranges from 1:2 to 1:38.
The purpose of this article is to assess the
current status of girl-child education in three com-
munities in the Zazzau Emirate of Kaduna State in
northwestern Nigeria and to measure the gender
disparities at the primary level in these communities.
Methods
Study Setting
In 2007 and 2008, two cross-sectional, descriptive
surveys were carried out in two rural and one peri-
urban community near the city of Zaria. Zaria is a
large town located in the northern part of Kaduna
State in the Guinea Savannah forest belt in Nigeria.
It has an estimated population of 546,000 inhabi-
tants, of which more than 50% are Hausa-Fulani.
The people of Zaria are predominantly Muslim and
they are mostly farmers and traders.
Tsibiri is a small rural village with an estimated
population of 1490 inhabitants, essentially a homo-
genous community of Hausa-Fulani Muslims far-
mers and traders. Shika Dam is also rural, with an
estimated population of 2660 inhabitants. Its people
are also primarily Hausa-Fulani Muslims engaged in
farming and fishing. Dakace is the only peri-urban
community of the three, and it has several industries
which attract people of diverse ethnicities and reli-
gions which mix with the indigenous Hausa-Fulani
community. It has an estimated population of 3471
inhabitants. Each of the three communities had one
primary school owned by the local government. Of
the three communities, only Dakace has its own
secondary school. Therefore, the children in Tsibiri
and Shika Dam who attend secondary school have
to go to secondary schools in neighbouring com-
munities.
Data collection and instruments
The objective of the 2007 survey was to measure
the proportion of school-going children in the study
communities and to analyze enrolment and dropout
rates, by gender and age. Ethical clearance was ob-
tained from the Ethical and Scientific Committee of
Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital and per-
mission was obtained from the local government
Educational Board of the three communities. Infor-
med consent was obtained from study participants
before carrying out the study.
Questionnaires were administered to both
household heads and school administrators. The
household head questionnaire was adapted and
developed from the Nigerian Demographic and
Health Survey (NDHS) 20039. The questionnaires
African Journal of Reproductive Health Sept. 2010 (Special Issue); 14(3): 109
Table 1. Distribution of study population (6-25 years) in 2007/2008 (n=3847).
Age in years
Male n (%)
Female n (%)
6-11
12-17
18-25
762 (50.5)
520 (52.1)
546 (40.7)
747 (49.5)
478 (47.9)
794 (59.3)
Religion
Islam
Christianity
1590 (87.4)
228 (12.5)
1747 (87)
259 (12.9)
Ethnicity
Hausa
Others
1576 (87.7)
221 (12.3)
1737 (87.2)
255 (12.8)
Table 2. Population aged 6-25 years in school and out of school in 2007/2008 by age and sex (n=3847).
In school
Out of school
Age
Male n (%)
Female n (%)
Total n (%)
Male n (%)
Female n (%)
Total n (%)
6-11
387 (25.6)
340 (22.5)
727(48.1)
375 (24.9)
407 (26.9)
782 (51.8)
12-17
285 (28.6)
205 (20.5)
490 (49.1)
235 (23.5)
273 (27.4)
508 (50.9)
18-25
189 (14.1)
90 (6.7)
279 (20.8)
357(26.6)
704 (52.5)
1061(79.1)
Total
861 (22.4)
635 (16.5)
1496 (38.9)
967 (25.1)
1384 (36.0)
2351(61.1)
Figure 1. Proportion of youth (6-25 years) in school or out of school (n=3847).
Figure 1. Proportion of population aged 6-25 years in
school and out of school (n=3847).
were translated into Hausa and pre-tested on a
sample of respondents in a neighboring community
with similar characteristics as the study commu-
nities. It was administered to all household heads in
the three communities and contained information on
demographic characteristics of school-aged popula-
tion and their current educational status. The school
administrators‟ questionnaires were administered to
the headmasters of each of the communities‟ pri-
mary school, requesting information on enrolment,
dropout rates, and completion of primary schooling.
The data collected was processed using SPSS
Version 17. Statistical measures such as frequen-
cies and percentages were used in the analysis and
bivariate analysis was done for age and sex. The
Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) was calculated, which
is a statistical measure calculated dividing the num-
ber of eligible school age children by the number of
students who are actually enrolled in school10. The
Gender parity index (GPI) was also calculated. Gen-
der Parity Index is a socio-economic index used to
show the relative access to education for males to
females11. It is calculated by dividing the gross
enrolment ratio for females by the gross enrolment
ratio for males. A GPI of 1 signifies parity between
male and female children, but if males participate at
a higher rate than females, the GPI would drop
below 1. The closer the GPI is to 0, the greater the
gender disparity is in favour of males11.
Results
The three communities had a population of 3847
between the ages of 6-25 years; of which 47.5%
were males and 52.5% females. Muslims and Hau-
sas constituted the majority (87%) of the ethnic
groups. Thirty nine percent were in age group 6-11
years, 20% in age group 12-17 years, and 35% in
age group 18-25 years. More than half (59%) of the
population aged 18-25 were girls (Table 1).
Only 39% of the population aged 6-25 years
were in school, the males made up 22% and fema-
les 16% of those in school (Table 2). The majority of
the young population were out of school (61%), the
males made up 25% and females 36% of those out
of school (Figure 1).
African Journal of Reproductive Health Sept. 2010 (Special Issue); 14(3): 110
Figure 2. Primary school dropout rates, by gender (n=62).
Table 3. Children enrolled in primary school
by class and sex, 2008 (N=1543).
Figure 3. Primary school completion rate by sex in three
communities (2008) (n=168).
Even though half of the population of 6-11 year
olds were females, primary school records reveal
that nearly 60% of the children enrolled in primary
schools were males. In each class level the percen-
tage of males enrolled exceeded that of females,
but the disparities were the most extreme as the
age of marriage approached for girls, with a ratio of
approximately 60% boys to 40% girls in Classes 4,
5 and 6 (Table 3). Interestingly, there was also a 60-
40 ratio favouring boys in Class 1, but the gap
decreased in Class 2 and Class 3.
The primary school Gross Enrolment Ratio
(GER) was 117% for males and 87% for females,
with a Gender Parity index of 0.74. The general
dropout rate was 4%, with a female dropout rate of
5% compared to a male dropout rate of 3%. The
highest dropout rates (14%) were for girls who were
enrolled in Class 5 at the beginning of the year
(Figure 2).
Impacted by high dropout rates among girls,
primary school completion rates showed an even
greater inequity. Figure 3 shows that the number of
boys who graduated from primary schools in the
three villages (64%) were almost twice as many as
the number of girls who graduated in the year 2008
(36%) .
Discussion
The global estimate of „out of school‟ children has
been estimated to be 115 million. Over 53% of
these children are girls and over 80% of these girls
live in sub-Saharan Africa12. In the western and
central African region, near-ly half of children are
out of school13. The percentage of out of school
children found in this study was even higher than
regional estimates, with 60% out of school. Out of
school females far exceeded out of school males,
mainly due to girls dropping out between Class 4
and Class 6 of primary school.
Household survey data for 80 countries indica-
ted that for every 100 boys of primary school age
Class level
Male n (%)
Female n (%)
1
197 (60)
134 (40)
2
171 (56)
136 (44)
3
148 (53)
131 (47)
4
155 (60)
103 (40)
5
109 (61)
71 (39)
6
112 (60)
76 (40)
Total
892(58)
651(42)
African Journal of Reproductive Health Sept. 2010 (Special Issue); 14(3): 111
who are not in school, there are 117 girls who are
out of school. The exclusion of primary school aged
girls has been found to be particularly marked in
three regions: the Middle East & North Africa (134
girls to100 boys), South Asia (129:100), and West
and Central Africa (118:100). In contrast, Latin Ame-
rica and the Caribbean have even more boys out of
school than girls. However, even for regions with
greater gender parity, girls in specific countries with-
in those regions may suffer exclusion. For ex-ample,
there are 120 boys enrolled for every 100 girls in
Peru, Bolivia and Guatemala. Other countries exhi-
bit even greater disparities, such as Yemen (184
:100), Iraq (176: 100), India and Benin (136:100),
Nepal (135:100), Egypt (131:100), Pakistan (129:
100), and Togo (126:100) 12.
In addition to the gender gap, Nigeria‟s educa-
tional system experiences a number of other pro-
blems such as teacher shortages and economic and
health barriers that contribute to under-enrolment
and low quality of education14. Place of residence
(urban or rural) also influences educational partici-
pation. The NDHS also reported that 68% of primary
age school children live in rural areas, and rural
children account for 80% of those who are out of
school9. The marginalization of rural children ext-
ends far beyond Nigeria: a household survey con-
ducted in 80 countries also reported that rural child-
ren account for 82% of the world‟s school-aged
children who are not enrolled. In the Nigerian sam-
ple, this study also revealed that almost one in three
children lived in Hausa households and more than
one-half of Hausa children (54%) were out of sch-
ool. The regression analysis found out that children
from Hausa households were 9.8% points less likely
to attend school than children living in households in
which other languages predominate13.
The present study has revealed that school
enrolment in the three study communities is poor for
both boys and girls. It has also shown that there is
significant gender disparity in school enrolment,
school drop-outs, and school completion is in favour
of males. The picture is indeed dreary because it is
much worse than the picture at the national level.
The majority of our study population were Hau-
sa Muslim children (87%). Two of the three villages
were rural, and the third was considered peri-urban,
representing a mix of farming and other occupa-
tions. Sixty-one percent of the 6-25 year olds in the
three communities were out of school. Primary sch-
ool records were comparable with responses from
household heads, with a higher percentage of males
(58%) enrolled in primary school compared to fema-
les (42%). The gap in enrolment was highest in the
fifth and sixth classes of primary school. This differ-
ence could be explained by the fact that girls are
approaching the age of marriage.
Primary school dropout rates showed a similar
trend: they were markedly higher in girls during the
fifth (14%) and sixth (10%) year of primary school
compared to dropout rates of boys in the fifth (6%)
and in the sixth (5%) years. These findings are
similar to the NDHS data which showed the highest
drop-out rates were among girls in the sixth class9.
The most likely explanation for the high dropout rate
among girls in the fifth and sixth class levels is that
their parents were pulling them out of school in
order to get them married at this time. The lack of
secondary schools within many rural communities
may also be a deterrent for parents to allowing their
daughters to continue studying in secondary school.
Rates of primary school completion showed
dramatic differences between boys and girls with
64% completing primary school in 2008 compared
to 36% of girls (36%). These values were much lo-
wer than the national primary completion rate for
males (83%) and females (67%), but not much dif-
ferent from previous findings reported for Northern
Nigeria (2004)7.
The primary school GER was lower for girls in
the three communities (87%) as compared to the
boys (117%), with a wide gender gap of 30%. The
primary school GER for boys was over 100% due to
the inclusion of over-aged and under-aged male
students. The primary GER for girls (87%) was not
much different from the national figure of 89%, but
the gender gap was almost double the national
figure of 16%. This implies that large proportions of
girls are being excluded from opportunities provided
to boys. This wide gap was further reflected in the
GPI of 0.74 found in the study area, even lower than
the GPI for Nigeria of 0.85. Gender parity is sig-
nalled by a GPI of 1.00, so these figures indicate
that Nigeria, and particularly northern Nigeria, have
far to go to achieve gender parity. It is not surprising
that Nigeria is currently among the 28 countries at
risk for not achieving gender parity in primary
education before the year 2015, or even 202513.
This research has helped inform a long-term
investment in girls‟ education in the Zaria area. The
PRHP girl child education program is being carried
out in 9 villages in Kaduna State, aiming to generate
community support for girl-child education, to en-
courage girls to complete secondary school educa-
tion and improve the health of women and children
over the longer term.
Conclusion
Girl child education is a priority because of its tre-
mendous impact on all aspects of human develop-
ment. Improved coordination between the Ministry
of Education, the Ministry of Women‟s Affairs and
the Ministry of Health can reverse the current trend
of substandard education and poor health outcomes
for girls and women. In order to provide high quality
education to Nigerian children, families must be
African Journal of Reproductive Health Sept. 2010 (Special Issue); 14(3): 112
encouraged to send their children to school and
teachers must be trained and sup-ported to provide
better quality education, especially in the rural
North.
The high level of out of school girls seen in this
study has grave implications that are detrimental to
the society as a whole and which can affect girls‟
lives negatively in all ramifications. Uneducated girls
easily slip into the margins of societies; ending up
less healthy, less skilled, with fewer choices, and
remain ill-prepared to participate in the political,
social and economic development of their commu-
nities. As undereducated women, they will remain at
higher risk of poverty, maternal mortality, child mor-
tality, HIV/ AIDS, sexual exploitation, and other
forms of violence.
Poor families tend invest their limited resources
into things that they feel are useful to their family‟s
economic well-being. With the current state of
affairs, it is no wonder that many do not see the
point of sending their sons or daughters into the
system. This study concludes with a call to action –
for national leaders, local government bodies, reli-
gious leaders and all concerned citizens – to mobi-
lize our existing resources to provide Nigerian
children with the education that they deserve and
the education that the country needs them to have.
Acknowledgements
The authors will like to acknowledge the three com-
munities of Shika Dam, Dakace and Tsibiri for their
participation. A special thanks to the core team of
the PRHP girl child education program, as well as
the mentors and the girls who have brought the
program to life. This research is made by the
Population and Reproductive Heath Partner-ship,
collaboration between Ahmadu Bello University /
Teaching Hospital Zaria and University of California,
Berkeley, funded by National Institute of Health,
Fogarty International Centre and National Institute
of Child Health and Development (5D43TW007696-
04).
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