Community-led education and girls’ access to schooling in Nigeria: Historical legacies, cultural constraints, and pathways to empowerment

Ibeakamma Chinazaekpere Ugochinyere, Moses Kargbo and Xiulan Wan

African Educational Research Journal
Published: March 23 2026
Volume 14, Issue 1
Pages 208-227
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19182275

Abstract

This study examines the role of community-led education initiatives in expanding girls’ access to schooling in Nigeria, with particular attention to the northern regions where gender disparities in education remain most pronounced. Drawing on a qualitative synthesis of thirty-one program evaluations, policy reports, and scholarly studies, the paper investigates how locally embedded interventions influence enrolment, retention, and broader social perceptions of girls’ education. The analysis focuses on initiatives such as school-based management committees, mothers’ associations, peer-led clubs, and religious partnerships that operate at the intersection of community structures and formal education systems. The study is guided by three complementary theoretical perspectives: intersectional feminist theory, social capital theory, and ecological systems theory. Together, these frameworks allow the analysis to move beyond descriptive accounts of program outcomes and instead examine the social mechanisms through which community engagement reshapes educational participation. Evidence from the reviewed programs suggests that community actors often play a crucial mediating role between state policy and household decision-making. Where trusted local institutions endorse girls’ schooling, enrolment gains are more likely to occur and, in some cases, to persist. Yet the findings also reveal important limitations. Increased access does not always translate into sustained participation or economic empowerment. Structural constraints such as poverty, early marriage, insecurity, and weak institutional capacity continue to shape educational trajectories for many girls. In several cases, educational gains remained fragile once external funding or program support diminished. The paper argues that community-led education initiatives represent a necessary component of efforts to address gender disparities in schooling. However, their long-term impact depends on broader institutional support. Policies that integrate community participation into education governance, strengthen adolescent retention mechanisms, and link schooling to viable livelihood pathways may offer more durable progress toward educational equity.

Keywords: Community-led education, girl schooling, educational equity, gender norms, education policy.

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