ATTITUDE OF PARENTS TOWARDS THE GIRL-CHILD EDUCATION

This research was on attitude of parents towards girl child education in Sabon Gari Local Government Area of Kaduna state. The population comprised of secondary school teachers Sabon Gari Local Government Area of Kaduna state. Three (3) research questions were raised for the study. The sample consisted of 150 respondents from five (5) selected schools.

The method of selection was simple random sampling process. The instrument use to collect data was a questionnaire while the data collected were analysed using percentage, frequency count and means scores. The finding revealed among others that the causes of the problem of girl child education include: parent negative attitude towards education, Early marriage of girl child do not favour their education, Some cultural believe do not encourage girl child education, Some religious practices do not favour girl education, Poverty is one of the factor that hinders Girl-Child Education, Parents are ignorance to the benefit of education, Bad government policy could affect parent attitude towards girl and Insecurity is also one of the causes of girl child education, with a sectional mean of 3.08. findings also revealed that the effect of the problem of girl child education include: Illiteracy among girl child could lead to early marriage, Illiteracy among girl child could lead to unwanted pregnancy, Illiteracy among girl child could lead to child exploitation, Illiteracy among girl child could lead to poverty, Illiteracy among girl child could lead to drop out syndrome and class repetition and Inadequate girl child education could lead to increase child mortality with a sectional mean of 3.00. in addition, finding showed that the solutions to the problem of the girl child education include:

Free education should, Compulsory education, the parent should change their negative attitude toward the girl child education, more appointment should be given to women and law should be made to abolish early marriage, Law should be made to abolish early child marriage, there should be more enlightenment campaign for girl child education and there should be more reward for girl child and their parent for girl child education with a sectional mean of 3.15. The study recommended that the government should make education free up to secondary school level in the Northern part of Nigeria so that girls from poor homes can benefit. The Ministry of Women Affairs should organize Public Enlightenment programmes on the consequences of early marriage of girls. It also recommended that Parents in Sabon Gari local Government Area of Kaduna State should have a positive attitude toward girl-child education.