GIRL-CHILD EDUCATION AND ITS SOCIO- ECONOMIC IMPLICATIONS FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN RIVERS STATE OF NIGERIA

Abstract

Girl-child education refers to the empowerment of the girl-child with a view to equipping her to face the challenges and demands of the society she finds herself. This paper therefore examines the socio-economic implications of the girl-child education in Rivers State. It employs two research questions to guide the research with 0.05 level of significance established for hypotheses. A sample size of 620 participants was selected across the senatorial districts in Rivers State out of a population of 32,809 by employing a proportional and stratified random sampling technique. The instrument titled “Socio-Economic Implication and Girl-child Education Questionnaire” (SIGEQ) was drafted for data collation. It was validated using content and face validity and reliability ascertained employing the test-retest approach with reliability index found to be 0.76 through the Pearson product correlation coefficient. This study employed mean and standard deviation to carry out analysis of the research questions while revealing that socio economic challenges such as poverty, teenage pregnancy, socio-cultural practices as well as early marriage significantly affect the education of the girl-child. The paper recommended amongst others that the girl-child should not be discriminated with regards to health care, enlightenment, culture as well as political affairs and sensitization campaigns be put in place to educate relevant stakeholders on the benefits of educating the girl-child.