Proxy measure of primary school completion. It focuses on children who have access to school, measuring how many successfully complete it. The primary cohort completion rate is the product of the survival rate to the last grade and the percentage of those in the last grade who successfully graduate.
An alternative view, while apparently different, is actually quite closely related. Analyses of labour market implications and the rate of return to schooling in developing countries suggest strongly that schooling is a very good investment. A year of schooling typically shows a 25-30 percent real rate of return. Such a return often looks noticeably better than other investment alternatives. At the same time, school completion rates in low-income countries are very low. These two facts do not go together. If it is such a high rate of return activity, why aren’t people taking advantage of those high returns? (Hanushek, 2005: 24). , In 2004, only 62.9 percent of the new entrants in P1 had the ‘correct’ age of 6-7 years. A total of 6.2 percent of the new entrants were between 10 and 12 years old. Boys appear to be more likely to enrol at an older age than girls. The 2002 census showed that over 80 per cent of persons aged 13 years were still attending primary school; the percentage of those aged 15 and over was still 7 percent (UBOS, 2006a). At the same time there has also been a significant under-age enrolment: 14.5 percent in 2004 (MoES-EMIS data, 2004). MoES, from its side, has accepted continued over-age enrolment in primary schools, to the extent that many 12-year-olds are still admitted into Primary 1. Though there are no data, it is very likely that a larger percentage of a Primary 1 cohort eventually completes primary school than official completion rates suggest (Hoppers, 2008: 33).