The Effect of Teenage Pregnancy On Girl Child Education in Amuwo Odofin Local Government, Lagos Nigeria
Research Project
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
The roles that women play in every family and society cannot be over
emphasized. Women occupy pivotal positions in every society. The ability
of women to contribute to the survival of families and national
development to a great extent depend on the quality of educations that
were given to such women especially at their early years of their live
on earth. Child education is essential towards enabling a child
contributes her quota to the well being of her immediate family and the
society as a whole.
According to Adu-Gyamfi, E. (2014), access to education has been
acknowledged as a human right, ever since the incorporation of article
26 in the Universal Declaration of Human rights in 1948:‘Everyone has
the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the
elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be
compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally
available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on
the basis of merit’ (un.org, 2009). However, girl-child education can
greatly be inhibited by teenage pregnancy.
According to Gyan, C. (2013), teenage pregnancy is one of the social
ills that affect society. The existence of teenage pregnancy do not
auger well for the development of the girl-child. This is attributable
to the girls’ age and the absence of any consistent means of
support to care for the children and themselves when they should have
been in school. It is alleged that teenage pregnancy and its associated
motherhood are characterized with shame, disgrace, and school dropout
and sometimes end of the individual’s dreams of achieving higher
pursuits.
Gyan, C. (2013), while referencing Cunningham and Boult (1996) asserted
that teenage pregnancy has a lot of social consequences which include
school drop-out or interrupted schooling, falling prey to criminal
activity, abortion, ostracism, child neglect, school adjustment
difficulties for their children, adoption, lack of social security,
poverty, repeated pregnancy and negative effects on domestic life.
According to a United Nations report – UNFPA (2013), pregnancies among
girls less than 18 years of age have irreparable consequences. It
violates the rights of girls, with life-threatening consequences in
terms of sexual and reproductive health, and poses high development
costs for communities, particularly in perpetuating the cycle of
poverty. Existing evidence strongly disputes the rationale of
traditional cultural practices such as child marriage. It supports
immediate action to enforce laws protecting the rights of children and
particularly of girls; guarantee education and health needs; and
eliminate the risks of violence, pregnancy among girls less than 18
years of age, HIV infection, and maternal deaths and disability.
According to the UNFPA report, in 2010, 49 per cent of adolescent girls
lived in only six countries: China, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, Pakistan
and the United States of America. India (20 per cent) and China (16 per
cent) together account for more than one-third of the global total.
India will retain the biggest national adolescent girl population, with
hardly any net change from 2010 to 2030 (93 million to 95 million).
China, in contrast, will experience a sharp decline from 72 million to
55 million. It will only account for 11 per cent of the global total by
2030 This report further stated that Adolescents aged 10 to 19 are of
school age, officially defined at the country level for secondary and
tertiary education. Unfortunately, many are either out of school or are
enrolled in or attending school at levels that do not correspond to
their ages. In 2007, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Institute for Statistics (2010) estimated
that “approximately 71 million out-of-school adolescents of
lower-secondary school age (are) excluded from any level of education.”
UNFPA (2013) Almost two-thirds of them live in South and West Asia or in
sub-Saharan Africa. In both
cases, they represent an important proportion of the adolescents of
lower-secondary school age (28 per cent and 38 per cent, respectively).
Almost one in three adolescents of secondary school age in sub- Saharan
Africa and South and West Asia are out of school.
The situation of adolescents is further aggravated by the fact that many
attend school at a grade that does not correspond to their age. In
2007, 17 per cent of lower-secondary school age adolescents were
enrolled in primary education (about 67 million, of which 35 million
were girls). Evidence also indicates that once a child or adolescent
starts attending grades behind the one indicated for her or his age, the
probability of dropping out of school increases substantially.
Access to good quality education is one of the most effective
interventions to empower adolescents with the most basic skills to
function and contribute to society. This is of greater relevance for
girls to obtain comprehensive sexual education; to know and recognize
options; to be able to negotiate reproductive desires, including when
and how many children to have; and to be able to demand access to good
quality services for reproductive health. All of these faculties could
be easily denied to adolescent girls who are out of school and unable to
complete their secondary education as a minimum. In sub-Saharan Africa,
only 23 per cent of adolescents of lower-secondary school age are
attending at this level, with 38 per cent out of school and 39 per cent
enrolled in primary education. By contrast, in North America and Western
Europe, 95 per cent of lower-secondary school age adolescents are
enrolled at that level, with only 4 per cent out of school. (UNFPA,
2013).
1.2 Statement of Problem
The effect of teenage pregnancy on girl child education is significant.
Gyan, C. (2013), for instance, noted that teenage pregnancy is one of
the social ills that affect society. The existence of teenage pregnancy
do not auger well for the development of the girl-child. This is
attributable to the girls’ age and the absence of any consistent means
of support to care for the children and themselves when they should have
been in school. It is alleged that teenage pregnancy and its associated
motherhood are characterized with shame, disgrace, and school dropout
and sometimes end of the individual’s dreams of achieving higher
pursuits.
According to Melissa (2012), teenage pregnancy could lead to incomplete
education, unemployment and other numerous emotional traumas. Early
motherhood had been linked to effects the psychological development of
the child adversely. Beside psychological physical risks cannot be
ignored. Teenage girl’s body is not as developed as adult women in term
of childbearing. Thus, they are often to face certain complications
during pregnancy. Lack of sexual education caused teens get abortions
since they realize that they are not ready yet to take responsibility to
be a parent at such a young age and they still have many things to
chase in life. The chance of maternal death cannot be ruled out in
effecting teenage pregnancy by child.
According to Marnach et al (2013) medically, teenage pregnancy maternal
and prenatal health is of particular concern among teens who are
pregnant or parenting. The world wide incidence of premature birth and
low birth weight is higher among adolescent mothers. Teenage mothers
between 15-19 years old were more likely to have anemia, preterm
delivery and low birth than mothers between 20-24 years old
physiologically for the child as well as the mother. The mother can
become easily frustrated and find violence is the way to overcome grief.
She might become distraught thinking that she is a failure as a parent
when seeing the reaction of her after being beaten. The teen mother
might become depressed and consider suicide. The percentage of teenage
pregnancy in the society is growing at along rate. It is perceived that
lack of adequate knowledge about sex education to teenage girls make
them to be sexually active which eventually leads to pregnancy. Teenage
pregnancy has been found to have negative and social long lasting
effects on the life of the adolescents. It is in the efforts of the
researcher to contribute towards the eradication of the ills associated
with teenage pregnancy and its effect on the girl-child’s education that
motivated the researcher to carry out this study.
1.3 The Objective of the Study
The main objective of this study is to find out the effect of Teenage
Pregnancy on Girl Child Education in Amuwo Odofin Local Government Area.
Other specific objectives of this study include the following:
i. To determine how teenage pregnancy affect girl-child education
ii. To determine the remote causes of teenage pregnancy.
iii. To determine the attitude of the society towards teenage pregnancy
iv. To determine measures taken so far by the government to curb teenage pregnancy
and its associated ills on a girl child education.
1.4 Research Questions
i. How does teenage pregnancy affect girl-child education?
ii. What are the remote causes of teenage pregnancy?
iii. What are the attitudes of the society towards teenage pregnancy?
iv. What are the measures taken so far by the government to curb teenage pregnancy
and its associated ills on a girl child education.
1.5 Research Hypotheses
1. H0: Teenage pregnancy negatively affect girl-child education
H1: Teenage pregnancy does not negatively affect girl-child education
2. H0: Decrease in moral and social values causes teenage pregnancy
H1: Decrease in moral and social values do not cause teenage pregnancy
1.6 Significance of the Study
With one year after the United Nations Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs), governments and their partners should recognize that many of the
goals are directly and negatively affected by the prevalence of
adolescent-girl pregnancy. Urgent investments to end this harmful
practice should be part of national strategies for poverty reduction and
social justice. Teenage pregnancy, stands as a barrier towards the
attainment of millennium development goal of ending hunger and extreme
poverty, achieving universal primary education for all, and promotion of
gender equality and women empowerment. This is because adolescent
pregnancy abruptly limits and ends girls’ potential because they are
taken out of school to be mothers. Children of mothers with little
education are less likely to be educated. Girls often get pregnant
without any say in the decision, and often with much older men or
husbands. Large spousal age gaps also mean huge power differentials
between girls and their partners/husbands. Girls who get pregnant before
age 18 are more likely to experience violence within marriage or a
partnership than girls who postpone child-bearing.
This study shall therefore in no small way contribute to the attainment
of the millennium development goals of the United Nations. The
suggestions that this study shall provide shall avail policy makers with
information on what to do to curb the teenage pregnancy. The
information that this study shall provide shall be made accessible to
all and sundry by hosting this study on the internet. The local
government that is being used as the case study shall also be provided
with a copy of this study to enable the Chairman of the local government
and other interest groups device measures to help their citizens
realize their dreams of being educated.
1.7 Scope of the Study
This study shall focus on the effect of teenage pregnancy on Girl Child
education in Amuwo Odofin Local Government Area. The researcher examined
the causes of teenage pregnancy, how teenage pregnancy affect Girl
Child education, how indirectly decrease in societal morals and values
causes teenage pregnancy, and how teenage pregnancy could be reduced to
the barest minimum. The setting of this study is Amuwo Odofin Local
Government Area of Lagos State.
1.8 Operational Definitions of Terms.
Adolescent: A young person between age 10 to 19 years
Child: A child means every human being below the age of eighteen years.
Formal Education: This is a form of learning that corresponds to a
systematic, organized education model, structured and administered
according to a given set of laws and norms, presenting a rather rigid
curriculum as regards objectives, content and methodology.
Learning This is the process by which an individual can acquire new
skills or know new things that will improve the person’s potentials.
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs): These consist of eight
developmental goals agreed by the members of UNESCO to be achieved in
2015.
Peer: Someone of the same age group, social class etc.
Teenager: Someone between age 13 and 19
Teenage-girl pregnancy: Any pregnancy that occurs to girls before age 18 is therefore considered an teenage-girl pregnancy
Universal Primary Education: This is a model or method of education that
was introduced in Nigeria in 1976 aimed at achieving grass root primary
education for all Nigerians.
REFERENCES
1. Adu-Gyamfi Ernest (2014), Assessing the Effect of Teenage Pregnancy
on Achieving Universal Basic Education in Ghana: A Case Study of Upper
Denkyira West District, Ghana, Journal of Education and Practice, Vol.5,
No.17, 2014, www.iiste.org
2. Gyan, Charles. (2013), The Effects of Teenage Pregnancy on the
Educational Attainment of Girls at Chorkor, a Suburb of Accra, Rome,
Journal of Educational and Social Research, Vol. 3 No. 3
3. Marnach, E F, Forrest, J. D; and Goldman, N. (2013) teenage pregnancy
in industrialized countries, Yale university press, New Haven
Connecticut.
4. Melissa, F. (2012), Teenage pregnancy from http://wwerarly Symptoms of pregnancy.
5. UNFPA (2013), Adolescent Pregnancy : A review of the evidence, New York
INFORMATION ABOUT THIS PROJECT:-
| No. of Pages | 55 |
| References | 31 |
| Project Level | B.Sc./HND |
| Fee | N20,000 |
For More Information about this project call this number 234-08028177177
Or visit www.danikingconsulting.com
