Journal of English Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics ISSN: 2707-756X DOI: 10.32996/jeltal Journal Homepage: www.al-kindipublisher.com/index.php/jeltal Page | 32 Towards Achieving Sustainable Development in Nigeria: The Girl-Child Education Factor Mary Chizoma Okere Ph.D Directorate of General Studies, Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria ✉Corresponding Author: Mary Chizoma Okere Ph.D, E-mail: mcokere499@gmail.com ARTICLE INFORMATION ABSTRACT Received: 01 September 2021 Accepted: 25 September 2021 Published: 24 October 2021 DOI: 10.32996/jeltal.2021.3.11.4 It is the dream and aspiration of every nation to achieve development. Hence, the policies and laws of any nation, whether developed or developing, are geared towards achieving development in every sector. To promote socio-economic development globally, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were signed. The SDGs are the seventeen goals set and signed by the 193 UN member nations in 2015 and agreed to be achieved by 2030. They represent a shared commitment by all member countries of which Nigeria is one to promote and ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and life-long learning opportunities for all, good health and well-being for all, gender equality, and empowerment of women and girls, among other time-bound goals through partnership. Before the SDGs, there were the eight Millennium Development Goals which were signed in 2000 by 189 heads of state to eradicate inter alia hunger and poverty, diseases, gender inequalities, etc. Four years after the 2015 target of the MDGs and four years into the SDGs 2030 target, there is still gender disparity in access to quality education between the boy-child and the girl- child in favor of the former in many countries including Nigeria. This is the reason this study sought to examine people's perception of girl-child education. The survey research design was adopted for the study. To provide answers to the research questions, a research instrument tagged “views on girl-child education questionnaire” was used to collect data. 144 people responded to the questionnaire. Results showed a generally negative perception of girl-child education among men and women. It was also discovered through the study that negative cultural beliefs about girl-child education, male child preference, and poverty are critical factors militating against gender parity in access to education. In the light of the findings of this study, it was recommended among others that government should pursue intensely its poverty alleviation programmes so that low socio-economic families could to an extent send all their children to school. It was also recommended to women organizations to increase the level of publicity given to issues concerning women. KEYWORDS Sustainable Development, Girl- child, Literacy/Education, Nigeria 1. Introduction 1 Issues concerning the girl-child in relation to the plight of women in patriarchal societies have over the years gained the attention of researchers. A girl-child in many countries of the world, including Nigeria does not have equal opportunities with the male child in virtually every aspect of life. Girl-child in this paper refers to a female biological offspring from birth to eighteen (18) years of age. It is the age before one becomes a young adult. This period covers the crèche, nursery or early childhood (0 – 5 years), primary (6 – 12 years), and secondary school (12 – 18years). During this period, the young child is totally under the care of the adult who may be her parents or guardians and older siblings. It is made up of infancy, childhood, early and late adolescence stages of development. During this period, the girl-child is malleable, builds and develops her personality and character. She is dependent on significant others on whom she models her behavior, through observation, repetition, and imitation. Her physical, mental, social, spiritual, and emotional developments start and progress to get to the peak at the young adult stage (Offorma, Copyright: © 2021 the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Published by Al-Kindi Centre for Research and Development, London, United Kingdom.