Children's Rights and Participation in Schools: Exploring the Awareness Level and Views of Nigerian Primary School Children

Abstract

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child which guarantees children
certain rights including the right to be heard in matters that affect them was ratified by Nigeria in
1991.After the ratification and the submission of her initial progress report, the country has domesticated
the Convention by passing a law on the rights of the child. This exploratory study was designed to find out
the extent to which primary school pupils in Ile – Ife town were aware of their rights and to explore their
views about the exercise of these rights. Data for the study were gathered by the means of semi-structured
oral interviews held with 144 pupils in four primary schools in the town. Data analysis showed that the
children had very limited awareness of their rights; about three quarters of the children were not willing to
exercise their rights mainly because they felt that there was no need for children’s rights and also because
of the cultural norms of the Nigerian society. It was concluded that the objectives of the UN Convention on
Children’s Rights were yet to be achieved in the schools.