A public affairs analyst has advocated for a national policy for free basic and secondary education for school- age girls across the country.
The advocate and Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer( CEO ) of Monaco Ventures Nigeria Limited, Mr. Monye Ehiwuogwu Lucky, said the policy would help create a pool of knowledgeable and enlightened females who, as adults, would be better able to serve the society as mothers and the first teachers of children, the most valuable assets of any society.
Monye, in a statement to mark this year’s edition of Mother’s Day, said that his suggestion was without prejudice to the right of male children to the same opportunities as he is advocating for the girls.
According to him, the policy of free and compulsory primary and secondary education for girls would largely help significantly reduce their vulnerability to ignorance, which exposes them to various ills that impair the effective nurture of their talents, cripple their self- realization and harm the tempo and quality of their contributions to societal development.
He named such ills as negative peer influence, drug addiction, teenage marriage, teenage and premarital pregnancies, prostitution , school drop out inclination, and crime.
Monye held, for instance, that, all things being equal, a girl who had acquired effective education up to the senior secondary school level, was far less likely to be susceptible to social ills than one who had not.
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Consequently, he suggested that the policy, pegged on an enabling law for nation – wide application, should be adequately funded by governments at all levels, and be strictly monitored and supervised for full compliance.
He submitted that an enlightened lady was more likely to be an effective mother, care giver and teacher to her children to whom she serves as first instructor, than one without effective education.
He urged the National Assembly( NASS) to closely examine the import of his suggestion with a view to ensuring that a law to guide the policy was passed early enough, for the benefit of Nigeria’ s girl – children, whom he described as critical stakeholders in Nigeria’s demography and other essences.
