Total number of students of the official primary school age group who attended primary or secondary education at any time during the reference academic year, expressed as a percentage of the corresponding population.
Divide the total number of students in the official primary school age range who attended primary or secondary education at any time during the reference academic year by the population of the same age group and multiply the result by 100.
Data by single year of age from household surveys on school attendance at primary and secondary education levels.
Data come from household surveys such as the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) and the Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS). In a small number of cases, other survey programs are used. For Brazil, household survey-based indicators are calculated from the Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicílios (PNAD).
NARA gives a more precise measure of the participation of the official primary school age population in the education system (excluding pre-primary education). While the net attendance rate (NAR) shows the attendance of pupils in the official primary school age group in the primary education level only, the NARA extends the measure to those of the official primary school age range who attend secondary education because they might access primary education earlier than the official entrance or they might skip some grades due to their performance. Increasing NARA might mirror improving participation of children in the official primary school age, the decrease of the target population or both. The difference between NARA and NAR provides a measure of the proportion of children in the official primary age group who are attending secondary education.
As other net rates, the ANAR is affected by the use of different reference points for age for attendance and the population.Treatment of missing data. All observations with missing information on age, whether the child is currently attending school, and the current education level attended, are omitted from the calculation of education indicators.
ANAR counts primary-school-age children who are attending primary or secondary school whereas the traditional NAR only counts children attending primary school.
ISCED recalculation of household survey data for education indicators. The age ranges associated with the education levels are based on the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED). The education levels and grades used in the calculation of education indicators are consistent with each country’s ISCED mapping. Age data methodology. The data collection period for international household survey programmes like the DHS and MICS may not be aligned with the academic year. This can create distortions in the age data used to calculate education indicators. Education systems generally define the intended or “official” ages for a given level of education based on the age of the child at the beginning of the academic year. In other words, the reference date for ages is the start month of the academic year.By contrast, household surveys may collect data on the educational status and age of children many months after the start of the school year. The reference date for age information is the date the survey data were collected, which means it varies among households. Considering the gap between the start of the school year for which attendance data are collected and the date on which the survey was carried out is crucial for accurate calculation of education indicators. To minimize the associated error, the UIS takes different measures depending on the number of months between the start of the academic reference year and the time of survey data collection. • Where information is available on the birth month and year of school-age children, age data are recoded to the age at the start of the academic reference year.• If only the age in years is available, and data for the majority of observations were collected 6 or more months after the start of the school year, one full year is subtracted from the age recorded during data collection (adjusted age = recorded age – 1). For example, if the school year starts on 1 September and data for the majority of observations were collected in March of the following year or later, the ages will be adjusted.• If only the age in years is available, and data for the majority of observations were collected 5 months or less after the start of the school year, age data are used as recorded. For example, if the school year starts on 1 September and data for the majority of observations were collected during the period up to February of the following year, the recorded ages are used without adjustment.
Data from household surveys are usually disaggregated by sex, location and household wealth quintile. The location (urban or rural) is defined according to national standards, which may differ across countries. Household wealth quintiles are usually determined with the help of an asset index, calculated from assets owned by individual households (housing material, water and sanitation, appliances, vehicles, livestock, etc.).