Girl-child education and poverty reduction in Jos North Local Government Area, Plateau State

Abstract

This study investigated the impact of girl-child education on poverty reduction in Jos North Local Government Area in Plateau State. The problem of the study was to ascertain the role played by girl-child education in poverty reduction, the challenges militating against girlchild education and how the standard of girl-child education can be improved in Jos North Local Government Area of Plateau State. The descriptive survey research design was used in this study. The sample for this study consisted of 150 respondents drawn through the simple random sampling technique from a population of 15011 female students in senior secondary schools in Jos North Local Government Area of Plateau State. A questionnaire tagged, “Girl-Child Education and Poverty Reduction Questionnaire (GEPRQ)” was used as instrument for used for data collection. Three research questions were formulated for the study. The content and construct validity of the GEPRQ were ascertained through expert judgment while the reliability was computed using Cronbach Alpha and reliability coefficient of 0.83. The research questions formulated in the study were analysed using mean scores and standard deviation. The findings of the study revealed that girl-child education can be a vital agent of poverty reduction among the people of Jos North LGA through raising the standard of women literacy, making them independent, creating employment opportunities for them and promoting economic and social development and making girl-child literate, empowered, an income earner and useful in the society. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended among others that parents should be enlightened of the benet and importance of educating their female children in Nigeria especially in northern Nigeria. This is based on the findings in this research that some parents do not send their female children to school. Also, education should be made free of charge at all levels in Nigeria.