Building literacy skills of urban poor women through the Each One Enable One approach

Abstract

Education is fundamental to learning and is a pre-requisite for development. It is also imperative for sustained growth and development of a nation. There is still a long way to go for India in achieving Goal 4 and 5 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals quality education and gender equality by 2030. Despite several government initiatives and literacy programmes, a gender gap in literacy of 17% still persists. A collective effort is required to address these gaps , as women constitute two-thirds of the illiterate population in India. The present study has been conducted to assess the outcome of an adult literacy programme ‘Each One Enable One’ by undergraduate students at a college of the University of Delhi, targeted at women from poor socio-economic backgrounds residing in the neighbourhood of students. The study was conducted across 11 districts of Delhi, the Capital city of India, using a sample of 150 women. The results have revealed that literacy programme led to statistically significant gains in the overall literacy scores of women in Reading, Writing and Arithmetic and enhanced self-confidence of women. The study has highlighted the positive outcome of the Each One Enable One Program and has provided evidence for the need to upscale such initiatives.