Girls and Science Education in Nigeria

Abstract

Many science teachers in Nigeria are aware of the relatively low numbers of female students studying the physical sciences (physics and chemistry) in the last two years of secondary education and at the postsecondary level. In a study conducted by the author,' female secondary-school students cited reasons for their not choosing to enroll in science courses (excluding biology and health science, either of which is made rather compulsory by the West African Examination Council). Three reasons with the highest frequency were: (1) science subjects, are to understand, (2) science subjects are hard, and (3) science subjects are mainly for male students. It should be noted that difficult as used in that study is different in meaning from hard according to the respondents' usage of the terms. In the case of job choice, research findings2 have shown that girls generally opt for careers such as nursing, teaching at the primaryschool level, and clerical work while boys generally choose sciencerelated and highly demanding prestigious careers such as medicine and engineering. However, a recent study3 found that urban girls tend to have identical choice of jobs as their male counterparts, and that both groups showed preferences for engineering, medicine, and teaching (see Table I). This particular finding, therefore, tends to show that no biological basis accounts for the low achievement and representation of girls in the sciences.