A lecturer at the Faculty of  Law of  the Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Mrs Obraori Peters Adiela has emphasised the need for special attention to be paid to Girl-Child education.

Mrs Obraori Peters Adiela, who was speaking at a seminar on the importance of Girl-Child education  in Port Harcourt, recently frowned at a situation where some girls are forced to be married to men who are old enough to be their grandfathers.

This, she said, automatically denies the girl-child the right of going to school, adding that their education is therefore disrupted, while they end up as illiterates.

According to her, approximately about 70 million young women these days are married before the age of 18 noting that 30 per cent of school age girls drop out of school having already begun child bearing at an early age.

She frowned at a situation where some girl children are persuaded to studying courses for home keeping, home economics and home management, catering, fashion and design.

She urged parents not to regard the training of the girl-child as bad investment as it would lead to uninformed mind and they would be dumb in national and international issues.

She said the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides the first international recognition of the right to education when it stated that, “everyone has the right to education”.

She emphasised that the girl-child right to education is not only an economic right but also a social and cultural as well as a civil and political right since people cannot fully realise their freedom   without education.

“Education for the girl-child just as any other child is generally considered to be one of the core rights and as the basis for achieving other rights”, she explained.

Statistical monitoring of education according to her, reveal that the national literacy rate for female is only 56 per cent as compared to 72 per cent for male.

She argued that if the girl-child is given the right to good and quality education, there is no way a child below the age of 18 years will be married.

She appealed to government to pay more attention to the education of the girl child as well as make free and compulsory education available to them.

She advised on flexibility in the educational policies that would enable efficient and progressive changes to respond to girl-child educational needs.

She expressed appreciation to the Rivers State Government that has made education free in the primary and secondary schools urging other state governments to emulate the gesture.

Eunice Choko-Kayode