Abstract

The research study focused on the cultural implication on the education of Muslim girl child in South West Region. The study was guided by the three main objectives: To examine how child illiteracy affect the education of a girl child in the Muslim communities. How does parents level of education affect or influence the education of the girl child in Muslim communities in Buea. To determine how early pregnancy  can  prevent girl’s child education in the Muslim communities in Buea.

Many theories, concepts, and empirical studies were used to guide the researcher in the study. A sample of 20 students was used and the instrument used for data collection was a questionnaire. Thus, the data was presented using frequency distribution tables and percentages.

Hence from the study, findings revealed that child illiteracy affects the education of a girl child in the Muslim communities, from the study, findings revealed that parents level of education has a great influence on the educational aspiration of the girl child in Muslim communities, lastly from the study,  findings revealed early pregnancy in Muslim community affects the girl child education negatively.

On the strength of the aforementioned result, recommendations were made. Administrators, policymakers, and parents should try to see how they can improve the education of girls’ children in the Muslim communities in the South West Region.

CHAPTER ONE

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

Introduction

Culture as a complex whole includes knowledge, belief, Arts, Morals, Customs and any other capabilities acquired by a man as a member of the society. It is the sum total of a given society’s way of life molded and shaped by prevailing circumstances and environment (Nakpoda, 2010).

It varies from one society to another and even within the same group of people depending on certain factors such as civilization. This means that culture is not static but dynamic, and it is expressed in terms of human behaviours shared among people, and it is learned rather than inherited.

Studies have shown that some religious and cultural beliefs and practices in Africa impact the education aspirations of the girl child (Onochie, 2010). Girl child education is a significant contributory factor to economic development and a key to sustainable development. However, the contextual realities of girl children and the state of their education in Africa are daunting. In sub-Saharan Africa, illiteracy among women continues to be high due to the inability of the countries to enroll and retain girl children in school (UNESCO, 1993).

Background of the Study

We have the conceptual background, contextual background, theoretical background, and Historical background. The theory that cut across this study is;

-The socio- cultural theory of ( Lev Vygotsky 1978 ). and

-Social learning theory ( Bandura 1977)

The education of girls and women in societies is crucial for any country. As stated here, to educate a woman is to educate her children, who will, in turn, raise educated families as well. This education sets off a chain reaction of improved livelihoods and opportunities for generations to come. According to Sachchar committee report “Indeed, extensive research confirms that investing in girl’s education delivers high returns not only for female educational attainment but also for the maternal and children’s health, more sustainable families, women’s empowerment, income growth, democracy, and productivity”.

The education of women is one of the most important ways to achieve sustainable development and benefit the entirety of a nation. Education for girls has also been seen as one of the most effective ways to lift families out of poverty. Unfortunately, the education of girls as a whole in Sub-Saharan Africa has been scarce over the years. Education is a vehicle for obtaining knowledge, skills, and attitudes for work, home, and personal improvement.

For women, good education makes them between mothers, and homemakers, productive workers, and responsible citizens. In the study on the productivity of men and women, farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa, Acharya, and Bennett (1993) found that the gain in productivity from education was higher for women than for men (62%) and (38%) respectively.

Summers (1993) notes that the education of girls offers hope for breaking the cycle of feminized deprivation and poverty. In spite of the general awareness of the significance of girl child education many African countries have no well-formulated nation policies which aim at improving girl child education.

Historically, in the more recent debate over education and ‘race’, the class issue has been a neglected dimension. In this respect, Williams (1986) ask what lessons are to be learned from the demise and failure of earlier class-based education policies given that recent initiatives designed to remedy racism, ‘racial inequalities’ and ‘racial disparities’ in achievements mirror very clearly the earlier, class-based, definitions of problems, explanatory paradigms, and policy recommendations is a believe that question which still has some significance.

The Muslim community in Indian is not a homogeneous one. It is multiracial, multicultural, and multilingual and comprises the largest religious minority in Britain today (Ashraf, 1986). It is this religious dimension that provides a uniting factor.

Since Muslim immigrants first began arriving in this country from the Indian sub-continent and parts of Africa in the 1950s,60s, and 70s they have negotiated long and hard with LEAs(Local Education Authorities) and other appropriate bodies for schools to accommodate the religious and cultural needs of their children (Nielsen, 1986; Midgely1989).

These efforts have met with only patchy success. This has meant that some Muslim communities have felt the need to have recourse to more radical solutions: to establish private Muslim schools, for which they are seeking to acquire voluntary aided status: and to explore the option of ‘opting out’ legislated for by the 1988Education Reform Act (Haw, 1994).

Consideration of the demands from some sections of the Muslim community for an education that incorporates the precepts of Islam and Islamic culture necessitates the unpacking of some complex issues. One strand of this debate is grounded historically and concerns the involvement of both Church and State in the education system of Britain.

Another strand of the debate concerns the aims of Islamic education because this provides the context from which to explore reasons for the establishment of private Muslim schools and their bid to gain voluntary aided status in line with Roman Catholic, Church of England and Jewish schools.

For those Muslims who see themselves as swimming against the tide of increasing secularisation, the education system is the focus for the incompatibility of values taught at home and those perceived to be advocated by the wider indigenous population.

State schools have attempted to adopt measures to accommodate the perceived needs of their Muslim pupils and this has usually been achieved under the auspices of equal opportunity initiatives adopted by individual Local Authorities and schools. However, accommodation of these needs revolves around major issues such as cultural diversity; social cohesion; and the extent of minority rights in a democracy.

Conceptual Background

(a) Culture:

According to Philip Kotler (2012) culture is the set of basic values, perceptions, wants, behavior learned by members of society, from family, and other important institutions. Warren J. Keegan (2014) defines culture as both conscious and unconscious values, ideas, attitudes,s and symbols that shape human behavior and that are transmitted from one generation to the next. According to my own definition, this study is the way of life of a social group, and it includes actions, values, and beliefs that can be communicated with necessary modification from one generation to another.

(b)Level of Parents Education:

According to Stuart (1981) which reveals that in Jordan the level of education attained by fatgers was systematically associated with the schooling of their daughters thus establishing a positive relationship between fathers’ and daughters’ education.

Assie (1983) explains that a girl in Cote d, Ivore with a university graduate father of more than thirty times, compared to one without a father is more likely to enter an academic secondary school. This confirms that the findings are applied to the Northern part of Ghana as found in the study. According to my the level of parents’ education will determine the level of education of their children especially the girl child. If the parent has a poor level of education he or she will see no need to education his/her children especially the girls.

 (c) Early Pregnancy:

Jingle (1988) confirms that pregnancy and childbearing usually end a girl school carrier. Mosby (1977) the girl child becomes successful in education if she does not become pregnant in the course of education, holding the other variables constant. The moment she becomes pregnant it terminates her education especially if her parents are very poor. According to my own research pregnancy ruins the life of the young girl, it stops or delays their future plans.

 (d) Parental Income:

Sanabary (1988) noted that there is a relationship between the income of parents and girl’s education. Girls from middle-income and high-income families are likely to enter school and progress all way to the tertiary institution than those from low-income families. Heckman and Masterov (2005) it is widely shown that children brought up in less favourable conditions obtain less education, despite the large financial return to schooling. On my own research parent see no need to waste their income on their girl child because they think girl children are a wastage of resources.

 (e) Early Marriage (Child Betrothal)

According to Junge (1988), in Ethiopia studies have shown that 20% of the primary school children were either promised marriage or divorce. This was a common reason given for the non-enrolment of girls.

Weis (1988) also explains that child betrothal is practiced in the Northern part of Ghana.

From my own point of view, early marriages are just a barrier to block children’s education and their future.

Contextual Background

Early Marriage:

Early marriage is a violation of children’s human rights. Despite being prohibited by international law, it continues to rob millions of girls under 18 around the world of their childhood. Early marriage denies girls their right to make vital decisions about their sexual health and well-being. It forces them out of education and into a life of poor prospects, with an increased risk of violence, abuse, ill health, or early death.

 (B) Early Pregnancy:

Early pregnancy is one of the most dangerous causes and consequences of this harmful practice. Girls married early are more likely to experience violence, abuse, and forced sexual relations. They are more vulnerable to sexually transmitted infections (including HIV). Going to school gives girls choices and opportunities in life, allowing them to play an active role in their communities and break the cycle of poverty. Girls who are married are unlikely to be in school. Education is essential for girls to be able to make informed decisions about their sexual health and well-being.

(C) Forcing a young girl into marriage generally means she will be separated from her family and friends and transferred to her husband like a piece of property. In an instant, she will be expected to become a woman who keeps the house and raises a family, rather than play and study like the child she is. Child brides are often made to leave school, are more likely to experience domestic violence, and are at higher risk of dying from pregnancy and childbirth complications — as are the children of child brides! girls who are married off are more likely to have children while still physically immature.

They are psychologically unprepared and unequipped to become mothers, which means they tend to have more health problems during pregnancy and childbirth due to inadequate health care arid their babies have a reduced chance for survival. (Sharon K. Houseknecht and Susan K. Lewis 2005).

Religious belief refers to attitudes towards mythological, supernatural, or spiritual aspects of a religion. Religious belief is distinct from religious practice and from religious behaviors – with some believers not practicing religion and some practitioners not believing in religion.

Religious beliefs, deriving from ideas that are exclusive to religion, often relate to the existence, characteristics, and worship of a deity or deities, to the idea of divine intervention in the universe and in human life, or to the deontological explanations for the values and practices centered on the teachings of a spiritual leader or of a spiritual group. In contrast to other belief systems, religious beliefs are usually codified.

Custom and tradition, Culture is a complex whole that includes knowledge, beliefs, arts, morals, customs, and any other capabilities acquired by man as a member of the society. It is the sum total of a given society’s way of life molded and shaped by prevailing circumstances and environment (Nakpodia, 2010). Culture can also be viewed as the way of life of a social group, and it includes actions, values, and beliefs that can be communicated with necessary modifications from one generation to another. Nakpodia noted that culture is made up of a list of elements.

The elements education may culminate in the person turning into the popular “old layer” (very old single lady) while still in the parents’ home. It is a common belief especially amongst low-income families that attending and staying longer in school might cause a girl not to get married as she would graduate out of school as an “old layer”.

Personal experience of the authors has further shown that most ladies are overwhelmed with the dread of not finding husbands if they get to a certain level of education, and if they allow prolonged education to delay them. In the northern part of Nigeria, for example, early marriage and/or early pregnancy is encouraged, and this affects the educational aspiration of female children.

It is in this light that Sandhu, Chaudhry, Akbar, and Ahmad (2005) indicated that old customs, traditions, caste systems, rural communities and wrongly understood religious knowledge have denied females education in the rural places of Faisalabad, Pakistan. Bunyi (2004a) argued that it is generally believed amongst rural Kenyan families that girls’ education is an unwise financial investment owing to the fact that the income accrued from it will be enjoyed only by their husbands’ families with insignificant or no benefit at all for their parents’ families.

Bunyi’s assertion is consistent with Ekwukoma’s (2014) opinion that among some cultural groups in Nigeria, it is believed that investing in girl-child education is a deliberate waste of resources as it will only benefit the family into which she later gets married. The assertions of Sandhu et al, (2005) and Bunyi (2004a) give credence to the fact that the inhibition of girl-child education by certain cultural beliefs is not a peculiarity of the Nigerian society. That is, these beliefs permeate other developing societies of the world.

Theoretically, several theories have been established in this aspect but basically two theories have been expatiated on this piece of work which are; socio –cultural theory by LevVygotsky (1978) and social learning theory by Albert Bandura (1977). These theories help to justify this research and which was use in chapter two.

Statement of the Problem

With all the civilizations in the World, some parents still prevent their female children from going to school. Although many have observed that this practice is peculiar a nationwide phenomenon to Muslims. It can be linked to the traditional belief and teaching of the Quran that once a girl has her first flow in her father’s house, the second should be in her husband’s home. Families that observe this teaching and beliefs send their children into early marriages, making education impossible for the girl child.

Some parents think that rather than sending a girl child to school, it is better to send a male child because there are greater chances of him becoming a medical doctor, engineer, pilot, a banker, and other professions where they will bring back incomes into their home.

Cultural belief that domestic chores are the basic responsibilities of female children. It is believed that it is what God has created them to do and so they have a special ability to do it. To such parents, domestic activities are the vocations of female children. This impression is premised on the traditional philosophy of girls as photo-type mothers whose major responsibility in life is to take care of their children and husbands, this reactionary philosophy of the responsibilities of the girl child has heavily impacted negatively on education.

The female children are consequently pictured as objects of dominance whose education must end at the household domestic affair. It is as a result of this that this study seeks to examine the cultural implication of the Muslim community on the education of the girl child in the South West Region.

Objectives of the Study

General Objective

This study is designed to find out how the cultural implications affect the education of girl-child in the Muslim community of South West Region.

Specific Objective

The specific objectives of the study are

1. To examine the extent to which the child’s illiteracy serves as a source to wealth to the parents.
2. To determine how parents level of education affect their girl child education
3. To determine how early pregnancy prevent girls-child education.