Factors Militating Against Females and Rural Dwellers’ Access To, and Participation in Higher Education in Nigeria. (Published)
The study was a descriptive survey in which Focus Group Discussions were used to get the respondents’ perception on the range of factors that militate against the females’ and rural dwellers’ access to and participation in higher education in Nigeria. The study was carried out in Nnamdi Azikiwe University (NAU) and St. John of God Secondary School (SJGSS), both in Awka, Nigeria. Four research questions guided the study. The population comprised all the lecturers and female students in two faculties (Education and Engineering) of NAU, all the Junior Secondary School class-3 and Senior Secondary class-2 students and teachers of SJGSS as well as Government representatives and a member of Women-Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in Anambra State. The major instrument for data collection was a 4-topic interview schedule, while percentage was used for Data Analysis. Findings from the discussions revealed some family, school, society and self-related factors. Some major recommendations made to increase the access and participation of females and rural dwellers in higher education in Nigeria are; provision of electricity in rural areas, provision of adult literacy programme for women and mothers in rural areas, establishing strategies for eliminating teachers’ negative attitude to female students’ potentials, as well as lunching of education campaign for rural dwellers.
Keywords: Access, Factors, Females, Participation and Higher Education, Rural dwellers