Beyond the Enrolment: Life skills Training and Educational Equity in Mangolpuri Slum Area of Delhi

Abstract

The present study examines the education system beyond the enrolment by focusing & analysing the role of life skills training initiatives in shaping educational equity among school going children in urban slum area of Mangolpuri Delhi. The study uses a primary descriptive research design to collect the data within 100 households with 184 samples of school going children through structured household survey and child level questionnaire. The core findings reveal that while school enrolment has already reached near the universal level but the quality of participation in life skills programs is uneven due to socio-economic conditions of households. Participation in life skills initiatives was unevenly distributed with children going to govt schools in comparison to private schools or NGO governed schools. The significant gender-based differences were also observed in such programmes due to structural conditions of the educational system in specific area. Respondents exposed to life skills training reported higher level of confidence, classroom participation and interaction with peers and teachers. This paper concludes that primarily enrolment focused educational policies are insufficient to ensure equity in urban slum context and emphasises the need to integrate life skills education in mainstream schooling system.