At the point that we’re in currently in Nigeria, there’s no limit to the education that an individual can get. There are no restrictions on age or gender. The only limits that are available are mostly financial and time-based. You could have the time, but the money won’t be available to pursue the education to the length that you want. In the same way, you could have the money, but you won’t have the time.
At this point, I think that education is freer than it has ever been; we have universities churning out graduates every year, with both genders duly represented. If anything is wrong, it’s the lack of adequate infrastructure and resources to cater to the massive number of students. That’s the problem.
But then, what I’m talking about is mostly in my experience. I grew up in the City of Lagos, and it was also during a time when you had to go to school, or you (as a kid) could get arrested for being out of school. Not arrested per se, but taken to Alausa (I think), and their parents would have to go there to pick them up and explain to the authorities why their kids are not in school. It was during Fashola’s rule that he fought cultism in schools, truancy, and child exploitation, like hawking and street begging.
And then, moving on to my village in the east, which is basically a small city due to how advanced it is, everyone there is also exposed to education. As a matter of fact, not having your child in school will bring you more shame because you’d have to explain to the child why they have to stay home while all their friends around them (boys and girls) are going to school.
Sadly though, that’s not how it is everywhere. I’ve heard that it’s especially difficult for some ladies to get access to post-secondary education. Some parents were hesitant to send their daughters to school because they felt that it would only end up in the kitchen. Meanwhile, they pushed their boys, giving them only a limited option of becoming a lawyer, a doctor, or an engineer.
I know that there are so many places that still observe this in Nigeria, and many female children suffer as a result. It can be painful wanting to go to school, but the reason you can’t is not because your parents can’t afford it, but because you’re a girl. How do you fight that? If it were a question of money, you know that once money comes, you’d be able to fund the education. But what do you do when the bone of contention is the fact that you’re a girl? How do you change that?
The answer is that you don’t. Society is the one that should be evolving more. Yeah, not many people follow that barbaric custom anymore, but the fact that some people still believe that the girl-child shouldn’t be too educated is in itself an error. There should be no cap to the levels that a girl-child can go with regard to her education. Gender should have no place when it comes to discussing education, because life has evolved so much right now. The worst thing you can do for your girl-child is not to equip her with the right knowledge to be on par with her peers.
Ignorance is no defense. We really can do better for our daughters, sisters, and our society at large.
