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Education and Systematic Group Inequalities in Nigeria

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Education and Systematic Group Inequalities in Nigeria CONFLICT TRENDS 03 2017 Visiting Address: Hausmanns gate 3 Address: Visiting Norway NO-0134 Oslo, 9229 Grønland, PO Box Institute Oslo (PRIO) Research Peace Education and Systematic Group Inequalities in Nigeria www.prio.org/ConflictTrends Project Trends Conflict On the night between 14 and 15 Brief Points April, 2014, 276 girls were kidnapped • Nigeria is one of the countries with the by Boko Haram from their school in sharpest educational inequalities in Chibok in Borno State in Northeastern Africa. Nigeria. The Islamist terrorist group • Girls receive far less education than does not believe that girls should boys. attend school, and these girls were • Northerners receive far less education targeted precisely because they were than Southerners. in school. However, conservative views ISBN: on gender and education is only one • Muslims receive far less education than Christians. 978-82-7288-803-8 (online) 978-82-7288-802-1 (print) reason why many girls in Northern Nigeria are missing out on education. • The above group inequalities tend to Due to large systematic inequalities reinforce each other. related to religion, ethnicity and • If anything, educational inequalities in region, many girls are suffering from Nigeria have been increasing over the years. a triple disadvantage when it comes to educational inequality. This policy brief • Policy makers should strive to reduce provides an overview of the types and systematic educational group inequali- ties. magnitudes of educational inequalities in Nigeria and offers some policy • There is a need for better data on edu- recommendations on how to respond to cational quality and performance in developing countries. these inequalities. Siri Aas Rustad Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) Gudrun Østby Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) CONFLICT TRENDS 03 2017 todue systematic cultural and regional inequalities. disadvantage, just not because they are girls, but also Northern Nigeria suffer multiple from sourcesof areas in the north. In sum, many girls living in Muslim predominantly in living women Muslim considerably higher level of school completion than predominantly Christian areas in the south have a Hausa women. Finally, Muslim living women in than five times as many yearsof schooling than Further, from women the tribe Yoruba have more while the corresponding share girls for was 66%. tion graduation age) had completed primary school, (i.e. 3–517 years older than expected primary educa in 2013, approximately 80% boys of the at age 15– of equal countries in Africa. Survey data indicate that Nigeria the is of one most socioeconomically un as groups defined by genderor age. nicity, geographical and regional differences, as well linked to cultural aspects such as religion and eth the likelihood conflict. of identities Group could be inequalities between groups increase grievances and dividuals, alarge academic literature has found that derstood and measured as inequalities between in lihood conflict. of While, inequalities often are un tional inequalities between groups increase the like cation have an overall pacifying effect, while educa large.at Research shows that increased levels edu of onlynot the on individual level, but also society for Withholding education from is someone atragedy Source: Authors’ calculation based on data from the World Inequality Database on Education WIDE (using the most recentFigure Lower year secondary 1: available for education each country). completion in sub-Saharan Africa, by gender (2006–2014). Inequality and Education Gender parity 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0.0 1.0 . 6 2 4 6 8 2 4 Somalia South Sudan Chad Burkina Faso Niger Mozambique Burundi Mali Guinea-Bissau Togo - - - - - Guinea - - - Djibouti Compared to many other African countries, the av line in-between shows the overall completion level. orange (girls) dots each for country. The horizontal cated by the distance between the green (boys) and and the difference between girls and boys is indi completion rate is indicated the on right-hand axis, parity in countries 39 in sub-Saharan Africa. The pletion of lower secondary education and gender Figure 1provides an overview the of levels com of Gender-based inequalities tional inequalities in Nigeria. Below elaborate we the on various types educa of to alarger degree than to boys, with girls having Also, safety and security issues may pertain to girls pullingly daughters more than school. sons of out their investments between their children, potential uted to levels poverty, of forcing parents to prioritize Differences between boys and girlscould attribbe school every for 100 boys doing the same. parity is 72; this indicates that 72 girls complete completion, is measured. Nigeria, For the gender parity, meaning the female-to-male ratio school of larger difference. On left-hand the axis, genderthe two countries (South Sudan and Djibouti) have a the largest differences between boys and girls. Only FigureHowever, 1indicates that Nigeria has of one erage level education of in Nigeria is relatively high. Central African Rep Nigeria Patterns Educational of Inequalities in Benin Senegal Sierra Leone Liberia Côte d'Ivoire Nigeria D. R. Congo U. R. Tanzania Sudan Cameroon G e Zambia n d Uganda e r - - p - Malawi - - a - r i t Gabon y the South can be dated back to the early 1900s. ferences. The differences between North the and er African countries, there are large regional dif are fairly high in Nigeria compared to many oth While the completion rates both for girls and boys Regional inequalities wards girls, such as the abduction in Chibok. manywhy their of attacks have been directed to view that girls should attend not school may explain when moving outside the Boko Haram’s home. high risks sexual of and gender-based violence rate, by gender. Source: WIDE (2011). Figure 2: Lower secondary education completion Congo Gambia T Ethiopia o t a Ghana l Rwanda Kenya F e Madagascar m a l South Africa e Swaziland Zimbabwe M Namibia a l e Lesotho 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.0 . 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 - - - www.prio.org/ConflictTrendsShare of completion of lower secodary education 60 12 10 40 8 20 6 secondary education 0 Women 19 with completed Women 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 4 Year of birth (5-year periods) Christian majority Christian minority Muslim majority Muslim minority Figure 3: Share of women who completed secondary education in Nigeria, by religion and cohort. 2 Source: DHS (1999, 2008, 2011 and 2013). Mean years in education (women) Mean years During the colonial period, the British practiced more than one million school children have fled 0 indirect rule, which implies that they essential- from violence in northeastern Nigeria. Regional 1940 1960 1980 2000 ly ruled through the agency of the existing rul- educational differences between the North and Year of birth (5-year periods) ers, thus under the restriction of the colonial gov- South in Nigeria are not unique. There are indeed ernment. In the North, the indirect rule policy similar patterns of regional inequalities with regard tnic grops allowed for the continuation of the traditional to economic welfare, health and infrastructure. Hausa/Fulani/Kanuri Yoruba Emirate system, i.e. a Caliphate with local emir- Igbo Other ates. In the South, on the other hand, there were Cultural inequalities Ljaw few existing political entities, thus the locally war- In Nigeria, there is a considerable gap in the av- ranted chiefs leaned more towards the British ed- erage levels of education between Muslims and Figure 4: Mean years of education for women in ucational and economic systems. These differen- Christians, with the latter having approximately Nigeria over time, by ethnic affiliation. tial paths to social mobility and nobility largely ac- twice as many years of education than Muslims. Source: DHS (1999, 2008, 2011 and 2013). count for the contrasting responses of Northern This fits well with the regional picture of a pre- and Southern peoples to Western modernity, and dominantly Muslim North and predominantly broken down by ethnicity. We see that the Igbo and especially to education. In the North, a large share Christian South. We can observe the same trend Yoruba perform much better than other groups, of children was sent to Muslim schools, while in when we compare Christian and Muslim women. while the Hausa-Fulani are lagging behind, and the South, schools offering Western education be- Figure 3 shows the difference in the share of sec- have had a slower development than most other came more important. Already in 1914, the South ondary education between women who belong to a groups. This could possibly explain the finding had 13 times as many schools offering Western religious minority/majority in the area they live, i.e. that Muslim women in predominantly Christian education as the North had. Muslim women living in predominantly Christian areas perform better. areas, and vice versa. Christian minority women What about contemporary regional educational in- have a slightly lower level of education compared Educational inequalities have increased over equalities in Nigeria? Figure 2 displays the total to Christian women living in Christian dominated time completion rate of lower secondary education for areas. Thus, it seems that for Christian women it In both Figures 3 and 4 we see that the develop- each federal state in Nigeria (with darker colors in- makes very little difference where they live with re- ment for both Hausa-Fulani and Muslim women dicating a higher completion rate), as well as the gard to their educational prospects. On the other living in predominantly Muslim areas has been completion rates for girls and boys. The map clear- hand, Muslim minority women have a much high- much slower compared to all others. This provides ly shows that the southern regions perform much er likelihood of achieving secondary education than two important insights.
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