Analysis of Gender Parity Index in Enrolment into Basic Education in Kwara State Nigeria

The key objective of the current National Educational Policy in Nigeria, which was adopted in 2004, is the attainment of universal basic education by 2015 regardless of gender of school-age children in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5- gender Equality in education. This declaration serves as a basis for the study, which analysed gender parity index in enrolment into basic education in Kwara State from 2018/19-2022/23 academic session. The researcher adopted ex-post facto for the study. The population of this study comprised all the 3,464 primary and secondary (junior) schools in the 16 Local Government Areas of Kwara State, that is, 2,639 primary schools and 825 junior secondary schools as at 2021/2022 Kwara State annual school census. Descriptive statistics of percentage, ratio and rate were used to analyze the data collected. Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER), and Gender Parity Index (GPI) were used to determine gender disparity in enrolment into basic education in Kwara state. The findings of the study revealed that: there was an increase in the enrolment of primary and junior secondary schools in Kwara State from 2019-2023. The result shown that as 100 male pupils enrolled to school, about 85 to 92 female pupils also enrolled to primary level of education and 93 to 97 also enrolled to junior level of education between 2018/19 to 2022/23 academic session. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended among others that: Kwara State government should strive towards attaining the Education for All through its slogan of Every-Child Count in state and make it part of its responsibilities to introduce a body that will continue to enlighten parents on the need why they should send their children to school regardless of their sex.