A cohort is defined as a group of persons who jointly experience a series of specific events over a period of time. Accordingly, we may define a pupil cohort as a group of pupils who join the first grade of a given cycle in the same school year, and subsequently experience the events of promotion, repetition, dropout or successful completion of the final grade, each in his/her own way (page 324).
UNESCO IIEP Dakar. Africa Office; World Bank; United Nations Children’s Fund. 2014. Education Sector Analysis Methodological Guidelines. Vol. 1: Sector-Wide Analysis, with Emphasis on Primary and Secondary Education. Dakar: UNESCO. IIEP Pôle de Dakar.
Drop-out and lack of progression through to the end of basic education is the biggest challenge when it comes to universalizing access to basic education. Unless drop-out is reduced, the result will always be generations of out-of-school children, replenished each year by new drop-outs from successive cohorts (page 76).
Lewin, K.M. 2015. Educational Access, Equity, and Development: Planning to Make Rights Realities. Fundamentals of Educational Planning, 98. Paris: UNESCO-IIEP.