Factors influencing parents’ attitudes towards girl-child education in Sokoto north local government area, Sokoto state, Nigeria.

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study examined factors influencing parental attitude towards girl-child education in Sokoto North Local Government Area of Sokoto state, Nigeria. Three research questions were raised to guide the study which are: to what extent does religious beliefs influence parents’ attitude towards girl child education, to what extent does cultural beliefs influence parents’ attitude towards girl child education and to what extent does socioeconomic status influence parents’ attitude towards girl child The population of the study involved parents and out of school girls in Sokoto North Local Government Area. Snow ball sampling technique was used in selecting the parents of out of school girls. One hundred and forty respondents (parents and girls) formed sample for the study. A self-developed questionnaire named Parental Attitude And Girl-Child Education Questionnaire (PAGEQ) was used for data collection. A reliability of 0.76 and validity of 0.88 was established for PAGEQ. Descriptive statistics and multiple regression analysis were used to analysis the data generated. Findings of the study; p = 0.001, 0.007 & 0.00 < 0.05 revealed that the three factors examined are factors influencing parental attitude toward girl-child education. However, religious belief appears to be the strongest contributing factor in the prediction of parental attitude towards girl child education with a standardized coefficient beta of 0.21= 0.007 <0.05.Based on the findings, recommendations were made. It was recommended that the government should empower parents who were handicapped by poverty in order to enable them have capital to purchase instructional materials for their children. It was also further recommended that both the government and religious leaders should carry out awareness and sensitization programs in order to let the parents know the importance of girl-child education in the area.