Everyone needs a well-grounded education, no matter what you end up doing in life. Education, according to the Chambers Dictionary means ‘bringing up or training’. Education stimulates the mind, thereby increasing awareness on political, social and economical matters, just to mention a few. It makes one to know that there is more to the world than just ones’ own backyard. And it also allows for contribution towards the betterment of the society.
A developing country/nation is a country/nation which has a relatively low standard of living, an underdeveloped industrial base, a low per capita income but in a phase of economic development. A state which is neither a developed country nor failed country but in a transitional stage.
In a developing country like Nigeria, education is very essential to all and sundry and most importantly to women for reasons that are pertinent to the growth of Nigeria.
To start with the primary function of a woman in her home, and in contemporary African settings, she is the second in command in any home, she performs so many functions such as taking care of the children, assisting her husband when/where necessary, taking good care of the house, just to mention a few.
A woman who is saddled with all the above-mentioned responsibilities needs to have an expanded mind and the ability to think logically. For example, an uneducated woman will find it difficult to read and her knowledge will not help the children in case they (the children) need help on their homework(s). Being educated, she will know how best to be a good wife and mother from what she has learnt. Humans don’t rely on instincts like animals do, we have to learn things. An educated woman is able to teach her child things even before going to school which will stimulate the child’s ability to be optimistic such that he/she wants to contribute to the growth and betterment of the community he/she finds himself/herself as a result of the upbringing by his/her mother, especially, and to forge ahead in the pursuance of his/her future objectives. So therefore, it is how well a woman is able to impact good behaviour into her child that determines the kind of product the child will be.
Also, women must have good knowledge in several areas of life to be able to take care of all the household business with confidence and in areas where her knowledge of education will be of valuable assistance in administering the home front, such as knowledge about nutrition, hygiene, just to mention a few. She needs nutritional knowledge to be able to feed her family well and rightly. She needs a good knowledge of hygiene to take the right approach/decision when they (the family) are ill.
Furthermore, she can use what she has learnt as a conversational aide with her husband, as education should be a lifetime experience and not limited to the youth years alone. As a result, she can talk professionally and earn a good job so as to compete with the male counterparts in the society she belongs and also to attain high standard such that she is not looked down on, as women is seen as just a person that is job is mainly in her husband’s kitchen. Being educated allows a woman to take active participation in the leadership role of her society.
Be that as it may, I cannot say that education will ever make a woman a good mother, but I believe that it is something that is inside of her, psychologically and or spiritually or rather how she perceived her role as a mother. To commend my words with examples of two different women of different views in Nigeria, it is imperative to note that Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, who was the former Minster of Finance and Mrs. Patricia Etteh, the recently impeached Speaker of the House of Representatives, viewed their role in office differently and acted differently while in office, which has helped described their personality.
In conclusion, all these put together describe why the education of women should be a national priority in a developing nation like Nigeria, as women play a vital role, based on their quality, in the success of a society as home is a part of a society.
