CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

       Egor Local Government Area is one of the eighteen local government area in Edo State. The major occupation of the inhabitants if farming and this makes them view the education of their female children as irrelevant but rather, female should help their parents for domestic work so that they can be good house wives in future.

       In Egor Local Government Area it is also observed that parents pay little or not attention to the education of their female children. Education is the total process through which an individual acquires knowledge; skills and abilities to enable him or her contribute positively towards the meaningful development of the society. It is also an individual’s opportunity for employment, earning and status. An access to education is one key opportunity and should be made available not only to male but also to females. In recent times, women in Egor Local Government Area have strived to gain places in almost all professions using education as a propagating instrument.

       Despite their contributions to societal attitudes, parents have not completely changed to granting female equal educational rights as males. Therefore, the attitude of parents towards the education of female students in Egor Local Government Area of Edo State is of great concern to the researcher and should be revised to involve females in National Development. According to Adaralegbe A. (2002) females are not to be restricted from education in any way. He also stated that time is coming when women will be in power.

       Adeyemi J. A. (2001) also emphasized on the education of females in one of his book-promoting females education analysis, university press Ltd, pg 117.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

       In most family, the boys are more valuable to the parents than the girls. As a result of this, the researcher deems it necessary to examine the attitude of parents towards the education of female’s students under the following:

1. The number of female students in school and the educational level of their parents.
2. Female education and parental income.
3. Relationship between societal culture and female education.
4. Academic performance of male and female students in schools.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS   

       In finding out the parental attitudes towards female education in Egor Local Government Area, the following research questions have been formulated.

1. To what extent do social factors hinders female students from completing their secondary education?
2. Does the education of female child have any offence?
3. Does the family background affect the education of female child or the family belief?
4. does male students perform than the female students academically?

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

       This research is aimed at findings out the various attitude of the parent towards the of their female children. Taking Egor Local Government Area of Edo State as a case study. The researchers work will examine the following objectives.

1. Enumerate the various beliefs of parents towards female education.
2. Find out the reasons behind such behaviour
3. Identify the negative attributes of women education held by parents.
4. Enable parents cultivate a positive attitude towards the education of their daughters.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY  

       The research is considered important especially in Egor Local Government Area of Edo State because it will help to develop in parents positive attitude towards the education of their female realizing t he educated today, it will help them to contribute positively to the development of the society and inculcate in their future generations right attitudes that will make them fit in with the present norms of the society.

It will also create awareness to the parents on the needs to view education of their female children as an obligation that must be fulfilled.

SCOPE OF THE STUDY

       This study is designed to find out parental attitudes towards the education of their female children and the reasons behind their beliefs. Egor Local Government of Edo State is used as case study, but it is not possible for this study to cover the length and breath of the region under review.

       Therefore, the researcher focuses her attention on these town and villages under the local government- Useh, Ogheghe, Ighadolor, Iguoshodi and Iyekeze to be a point of references, because female education is not well recognized in these regions.

LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

       In the course of writing this research work, the researcher encountered some difficulties that tends to discourage her, such getting relevant materials to the topic of research on time, the stipulated time was not enough to examine in detail the length and breadth of the region in the specified local government. Also financial; constraints also contributed/constituted some major difficulties to cover a wide area of the local government.

       However, financial constraint also constituted some difficulties, hence the inability to cover a wide area. It is however pertinent to note here that these limitations have not in any way ended the quality and standard of this study.

DEFINITION OF TERMS 

Attitude: Way of thinking, feeling, behaviour, opinion or value one has for female education.

Parent: Any person (man or women) with legal claim of ownership of a child, male or female.

Income: Available resources of parents earned on sales of articles or received on performance of a certain services 

Education: formal instruction or training given to a child in secondary schools female or male.

Social factors: All social influences that aid or hinder a parent’s attitude to education of their female children.

Educated parents: Owner of a female child with formal education in addition to informal education.