Education for inclusion: numeracy intervention in second chance education of market women in rural Nigeria

Abstract

Background: A second chance education intervention was initiated for market women in rural Nigeria, who previously missed opportunity for formal education in their younger ages, with the aim of acquiring and improving basic numeracy skills for inclusion of the women. Data source and methods: Thirty (30) questionnaires on hands-on activity were administered on 30 women purposively selected from the membership list of the association of market women, while 15 other women were similarly sampled to form the control group, giving a total of 45 questionnaires. In-depth interviews, and two focus group discussions (FGDs) comprising 12 volunteer women each were also conducted.  The qualitative data were content analysed while mean, standard deviation, Chi-square and Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) were used to analyse the quantitative data. Results: Participants have similar socio-demographic characteristics. Over 70% of the respondents were aged less than 40 years while over 50% of the respondents attained primary education. Similarly, 64.4% of the rural women had no opportunity for formal education as adults. Results showed that there were significant effects of hands-on activities on mean ability of rural women in giving balance and stock taking. Conclusions: The second chance education initiative provided an avenue for peer learning and more inclusive and equitable numerical skill development of market women, thus enhancing the prospect of contributing to AU Agenda 2063 and the 4th goal of the post-2015 development agenda.