people and planet

10
FIGURE 10.1:
More than 4 in 10 children not in school will never enrol
Distribution of out-of-school children by school exposure, world and selected regions, 2014
Female
Southern Asia
Male
Female
Sub-Saharan Africa
Male
Female
Caucasus/C. Asia
Male
11
19
27
11
42
41
45
50
12
62
12
81
14
18
18
17
78
69
12
61
44
42
38
33
10
26
9
FIGURE 10.2:
Almost 30% of the poorest children in low income
countries have never been to school
Distribution of out-of-school children by school exposure,
world and selected regions, 2014
Never been to school (%)
40
30
20
29
18
17
Poorest
Average
Richest
Female
Latin America/Caribbean
Male
Female
World
14
12
10
11
17
23
41
47
20
21
75
71
67
39
32
10
0
7
Low income
countries
7
1
Lower middle
income
countries
3
2
0
Upper middle
income
countries
Male
Source: UIS database.
35
Expected never
to enrol
19
Enrolled but
dropped out
46
Expected to
enrol late
Note: The estimate is calculated for those who are 1 to 3 years
above primary school graduation age, which approximately
corresponds to adolescents aged 12 to 14.
Source: GEM Report team analysis (2016) using household
surveys.
In low and middle income countries, where 10% of
children of primary school age were out of school in
2014, 4% of the current cohort of children will never go
to school. The magnitude of the challenge is highest
in Southern Asia, where 62% of children not in school
are expected never to enrol; the proportion rises to 81%
among girls (Figure 10.1).
Household surveys provide complementary information
on access to education. Parents and guardians are
directly asked whether each child has ever attended
school. But survey data are available only with a time lag
and therefore overestimate the percentage of those who
have never been to school. What survey-based estimates
may lack in timeliness and precision, however, they make
up with information on disparity in access to school. For
example, in lower middle income countries, while just 1%
of children from the richest households have never been
to school, the corresponding share from the poorest
households is 17%, and in low income countries almost
30% of children from the poorest households have never
been to school (Figure 10.2).
PARTICIPATION
Target 4.1 draws attention to participation not only
in primary and lower secondary but also in upper
secondary education. In doing so, it extends the scope of
monitoring into an education level that in most countries
is not compulsory and consists of diverse tracks
and programmes.
The key indicator for monitoring participation, and the
basis for calculating the number of those out of school,
is the adjusted net enrolment rate. At the primary
education level, it is the percentage of children in the
official primary age group who are in primary school
or above; enrolment in pre-primary education, the
level below, is not included. But at the lower secondary
education level, the rate is the percentage of those in the
2016 • GLOBAL EDUCATION MONITORING REPORT 181