Social and Cultural Impediments to Girl Child Education Among the Tiv People of Benue State: Counselling Implications

Household discriminatory practices on the girl-child have drawn attention worldwide due to deep-rooted socio-cultural beliefs, values and practices. This paper examines the socio-cultural impediments to the education of the girl child among the Tiv people of Benue State and efforts by the Nigerian government through policies that will alleviate poverty, discrimination practices, religious factors, early betrothal of the girl-child and parental attitude. The girl-child is discriminated by virtue of sex, the structure of the society, its values, traditions and institutions that have in-built discriminatory practices against women. Reviewing these practices in line with government set interventions shows that these policies even though are available in Benue State, they are still far from being implemented in practice. The paper discussed the transactional Analysis which is rooted in a philosophy that is anti - deterministic and asserts that human beings are capable of transcending their conditions through early programming Re-deciding entails assisting the girl child to re-write and employ strokes to develop a true sense of trust in the world and a sense of self-worth. It concludes that counselling remains an anti-dot for changing the perceptions of parents and the society at large towards girl child education. The paper recommends interventions for girl – child education and elimination of discriminatory practices in the society.