Household Characteristics and Investment in Girl Child Education

Abstract

The research was carried out to ascertain how different household characteristics like marital status of parents, parents age, economic background, religion, type of family, occupation among others can affect investments in girl-child education. The design for the study was the descriptive survey research design. Four research objectives and a research hypothesis guided the study. The study population included all the parents of pupils in public primary schools in Delta Central senatorial district of Delta State which is about 1.2million parents. 1,116 parents were sampled from six selected local Government Areas in Delta central senatorial district representing about 10% of the population. A 4 sectioned self-structured questionnaire titled: Household Characteristics and Investment in Girl Child Education Questionnaire (HC1GCEQ) was designed by the researchers for the study. Descriptive statistics of mean and standard deviation were used for data analysis. A mean score of 2.50 and above indicated an effect on girl child education while, a mean score less than 2.50 indicated no effect on girl child education The research hypothesis was answered using Pearson product moment correlation statistic. The study revealed that Household characteristics affected girl child education in terms of type of school the girl child will attend, it affected the payment of extra levies, and it affected books and other supplies for the girl child. The recommendations based on the findings include continuous sensitization by government, workers, voluntary groups and organizations and child right and or girl child activists on the importance of girl child education especially among the rural areas and also financially empowering parents through gainful employment among others.