The Effects of Early Marriage on Students Academic Attainments of a Selected School in Any Local Government.
CHAPTER ONE
OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
The main specific objectives of the study are:
- To investigate and identify the possible reasons for early marriage.
- To examine the educational effects of early marriage on female academic performance in University of Uyo
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEWED OF RELATED LITERATURE
History of the Study
Birth, marriage and death are the standard trio of key events in the life of mankind. Out of these three events, marriage is a matter of choice. The right to exercise that choice was identified as a principle of law starting from the Roman era and has been established in the international human right instruments (Bunting, 2012). The history of marriage dates back to the history of mankind. Biblically, God created the first man called Adam and he was without helper. God being omnipotent and omniscient know his problem and hired him into a great slumber and removed one of his ribs and created a woman called Eve (Genesis 2:21-22) from this time, marriage was first contracted by Adam and Eve who was the first parent on earth to highlight this, the holy bible says, so God created man in his own image in the image of God he created him, male and female and God blessed them and said to them “be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it” Gen. 1:27-28.
Early Marriage
Many females enter into marriage without any choice of exercising their right to choose. Most of them are forced into marriage at their early or tender age. Others are simply too young to make a matured decision about their marriage partner or about the consequences of marriages itself. They may have given what passes for ‘counsel’ in the eyes of the law, but in reality, consent to their binding union has been made by other on their behalf (Bunting, 2012). The principle or rule is that once a female or girl is married she has automatically become a woman, regardless her age. Early marriage, which is marriage of children and adolescents below the age of 18years, is still widely practiced most especially in the all parts of the country. There are various forms and causes of early marriage, but one prominent issue is that “early marriage is a violation of human right”. The right to free and full consent to marriage is recognized in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and in other human right instruments (Shehu, 2010; Bunting, 2012).
Consequences of Early Marriage
Early marriage has profound physical, intellectual, psychological and emotional impacts, which has the capacity to dash away the educational opportunities and chances for personal growth. it almost leads to pregnancy and childbearing, and is likely to result into a lifetime domestic and sexual subservience. For many young females and young girls in developing and some underdeveloped countries, marriage is perceived as a means of securing and protecting their future. Girls are forced into marriage by their families while they are still children in the hope that marriage will yield returns financially and socially (Shobba, 2009). On the contrary, early marriage violates the rights of children with negative implications. It compromises their overall development, leaving them socially isolated with little or no education, skills and opportunities for employment and self-realization. These conditions ultimately make married girls susceptible to poverty. These girls are required to do a disproportionate amount of chores, which includes new roles and responsibilities as wives and mothers. The young bride’s status in the family is frequently dependent on her, demonstrating their fertility often within the first year of her marriage. At this time, she is not psychologically, emotionally and physiologically prepared for these roles. Additionally, young females are made responsible for the care and welfare of future generations while still children themselves. Young mothers with no decision-making powers, restricted mobility and no economic resources are likely to transmit these emotions to their kids. Therefore, early marriage directly compounds to feminization of poverty and intergenerational poverty.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
INTRODUCTION
In this chapter, we described the research procedure for this study. A research methodology is a research process adopted or employed to systematically and scientifically present the results of a study to the research audience viz. a vis, the study beneficiaries.
RESEARCH DESIGN
Research designs are perceived to be an overall strategy adopted by the researcher whereby different components of the study are integrated in a logical manner to effectively address a research problem. In this study, the researcher employed the survey research design. This is due to the nature of the study whereby the opinion and views of people are sampled. According to Singleton & Straits, (2009), Survey research can use quantitative research strategies (e.g., using questionnaires with numerically rated items), qualitative research strategies (e.g., using open-ended questions), or both strategies (i.e., mixed methods). As it is often used to describe and explore human behaviour, surveys are therefore frequently used in social and psychological research.
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS
INTRODUCTION
This chapter presents the analysis of data derived through the questionnaire and key informant interview administered on the respondents in the study area. The analysis and interpretation were derived from the findings of the study. The data analysis depicts the simple frequency and percentage of the respondents as well as interpretation of the information gathered. A total of eighty (80) questionnaires were administered to respondents of which only seventy-seven (77) were returned and validated. This was due to irregular, incomplete and inappropriate responses to some questionnaire. For this study a total of 77 was validated for the analysis.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Introduction
It is important to ascertain that the objective of this study was to ascertain the effects of Early marriage on students Academic attainments of a selected school in any Local government.. In the preceding chapter, the relevant data collected for this study were presented, critically analyzed and appropriate interpretation given. In this chapter, certain recommendations made which in the opinion of the researcher will be of benefits in addressing the effects of early marriage on students academic attainments of a selected school in any Local government.
Summary
This study was on the effects of early marriage on students academic attainments of a selected school in any Local government. Two objectives were raised which included; To investigate and identify the possible reasons for early marriage and to examine the educational effects of early marriage on female academic performance in University of Uyo. A total of 77 responses were received and validated from the enrolled participants where all respondents were drawn from female students from University of Uyo. Hypothesis was tested using Chi-Square statistical tool (SPSS).
Conclusion
The study has revealed that major factors that are responsible for this ugly situation, ranging, early marriage, poverty, poor parental attitude, economic status of the parent, obnoxious cultural beliefs and gender inequality is common among people in that area. Above all, parent think that girl’s education is a waste of resources. In conclusion, this study strongly argues that this influences girl-child education in Uyo must be remove by all the stake holders, including government, parents, traditional ruler and the elites in the communities, if not girl child will continue to suffer the influence of early marriage
Recommendation
From the findings of this research, the researcher made these recommendations as follows.
- Schools on their own must employ qualified counselors to help inculcate the implications of early marriages on education of the young ones.
- Counseling services should be extended to non-school setting to help parents eradicate the notion or superstition of early marriage among their children especially the females.
- The government through the services of health education practitioners should constantly enlighten the public especially at the rural areas about the dangers of encouraging early marriage among the female children
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