Education is the process of facilitating learning, knowledge skills and values, through discussion, teaching, training and research. It is also the best system for acquiring knowledge, preparing oneself or others intellectually for mature life.
In today’s world, without education you can not find yourself any where in the society. Without education you may know the things around you, but with education you can actually understand those things you know. And in knowing something and understanding something, there is a lot difference.
There is need for parents to give their female children the best education than giving them out in early marriages. Education is not just important but it’s also necessary.
Education is a must for a woman to move up the ladder in the society because it is the woman who takes care of all family matters when it seems tough for man. Thus, education is a necessity for a woman than man. If Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was given out in early marriage, she would not have been the minister she was.
The idea that women are inferior to men when it comes to education has unfortunately been embedded in our culture. In a tactful way, a woman is made to lead the family when in poor condition. She can bear the situations with patience than man. In this generation, an uncivilized woman has nothing to offer in the sense that, she is ignorant but the civilized and educated woman can easily solve problems with her intelligence and knowledge acquired.
The best way to combat early marriage for females is to keep them in schools. It is proven that females who receive a higher education are less likely to be married before 18 than the ones without education. When a girl goes to school, she will marry later and escape the cause of early marriage.
Too often, the reason for girls’ early marriage has been as a result of poor financial background of the families, gender, ignorance and lack of understanding or respect for children’s rights.
Sadly, many marriages are considered forced because in most situations, girls did not give their free and full consent and were not given the opportunity to finish the secondary aspect of education before they were given out in marriage by their parents or guardians.
The sobering plight of early marriage has caused many girls more harm than good, thereby exposing them to suffering, sickness, hardship, agony and pain. The fate of every female child across the world and in various family appears to be worsening. This is as a result of obedience and respect to the wishes of families, and cultures guiding them.
Early marriage does not only limit girls’ future prospects, but also their ability to contribute to their countries economic goals. Unfortunately, child abuse and neglect have since been accepted as normal features of life.
Obviously, daughters of uneducated mother are most likely to drop out of school, marry young, and probably continue the marriage cycle.
Early marriage for girls also has health consequence. It increases risk of violence, abuse, HIV and other diseases.
Worse still, early female marriage often leads to early pregnancy. Girls within the age of 15 to 19 are more likely to experience complications during pregnancy and child birth.
Pregnancy and child birth are said to be the second leading cause of death for girls between 15 and 19 years. This is because their reproductive system is not strong enough to undergo such stress and pain. They also have children with low birth weight, inadequate nutrition and anemia. The health of these young mothers is further jeopardised as they are also more likely to develop cervical cancer later in life.
Most parents believe that marrying girls out at an early age will prevent the girl from being exposed to bad life and as well escape such diseases as HIV, gonorrhea and others. Little did they know that they are putting them at a high risk. This is because men are often more mature and more experienced sexually, sometimes entering the marriage already with HIV and other infectious diseases.
Nevertheless, a knowledgeable woman is a respectable woman who has the power and charisma to make people listen to her and do her biddings.
Females are more less likely to become victims of abuse when they are in school. When females miss out in school, they are denied the most basic things of life. Females deserve to be empowered to make their own choice in life and not parents making choices for them.
Therefore, families, communities and countries need to understand the need for education and the risk associated with early girl marriage such as, the loss of education, the loss of living, and the loss of better life in future.
Government should engage in the process of making change by providing job opportunities for parents to see their children through school rather than giving them out in.
As it is, laws prohibiting early marriage have become imperative, regardless of custom. Implementation of secondary school scholarship program for girls, among others, can also reduce the rate of girl marriage.
Ernest lives in Port Harcourt.

Cynthia Ernest