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AN ANALYTICAL EVALUATION OF THE TREND OF PRIMARY SCHOOL ENROLMENT IN EBONYI STATE: THE CASE OF THE CHALLENGES FACING FEMALE CHILDREN

Education of the girl-child has become a universal issue for African nations hence the need for striving to achieve a balance between the enrollment rates of their male counterparts. The goal of the paper was to analyse the challenges of the girl-child in Ebonyi State of Nigeria in terms of school enrolment. Descriptive survey involving secondary data was used for analysis covered the period 2001-2007. The study has discovered that the primary school enrolment rate of girls is still very low and still remains worrisome. This is further worsened by traditional system and belief pattern of gender disparity, and high incidence of early marriage of very young girls based on value system. Therefore, there is an immediate need for government attention in rural development, motivation of female interest in education, policy reform in content, and pedagogy with a singular target of making UNESCO Educational objectives achievable by 2015 in the State and Nigeria, as a whole.