Enrolment

This indicator measures the number of children that are enrolled in education, whether in formal schools and/or other learning spaces, such as Temporary Learning Spaces (TLS), Non-Formal Education (NFE) Centres, Digital Learning Centres (DLC) or Child Friendly Spaces (CFS). The indicator can be adapted to measure the percentage of children in the total population who have access to education. This percentage can be referred to as the enrolment rate.

1) Collect the required data from school or learning space registers or education authorities’/learning space administrators’ data on enrolment. Choose a specific point at which the data should be collected (i.e. the start of the project, the start of the school year/NFE cycle, after the first 3 months of the school year (when numbers are more stabilised), etc. that works best for the project (ensuring to use the same time point for any future data collection – for example, if measuring baseline and endline data or comparing multiple school years/NFE cycles, to guarantee accurate comparisons). Where the action/activity being measured continues or builds on a previous project or intervention, consider utilising the previous data as a baseline or to measure ongoing change and impact over a longer time period).

2) To report on enrolment rate (%) instead of number of enrolments, take the number of enrolments and divide it by the total targeted number of school-aged children in the project area and then multiply it by 100 to get the enrolment rate percentage.

Disaggregation of the data can be done by location, age group, gender, level of education, type of learning space, ethnicity, mother tongue, wealth quintile, disability, displacement status and or other specific vulnerable groups, as relevant.

Disaggregation of data by disability type should use the Washington Group Short Set on Functioning (or for actions with specialised responses to disabilities use the complete WG/UNICEF Child Functioning Module) or equivalent.

1) This is an ECHO KRI Indicator.

2) Asking about the data on certain groups can get sensitive in some contexts, as school or learning space representatives might have reasons for over-reporting, under-reporting or might simply not know. In some cases, defining the group of interest with the interviewee (e.g. gender, ethnicity, disability, displacement status and/or other specific vulnerable groups, as relevant) might be needed. Sometimes enrolment figures should be double checked with other stakeholders, e.g. school or learning space director, teachers, facilitators, parents or caregivers or authorities.

3) Enrolment can be measured either using gross or net enrolment rates. If comparing between the data collected and existing data sets, it is important to ensure the same type of enrolment data is collected. Gross enrolment rate counts the total number of children enrolled in the school or learning space (as mentioned above). “The net enrolment rate excludes overage and underage students and more accurately captures the system's coverage and internal efficiency.” (World Bank).

4) This indicator can also measure the level of equitable participation of children from vulnerable groups in education, by measuring the proportion of children from vulnerable groups (i.e. gender, wealth, ethnicity, disability, displacement status and/or other specific vulnerable groups, as relevant) enrolled in formal schools or non-formal learning spaces, compared to the proportion of the group in the population. To measure equitability of education enrolment, calculate the indicator’s value by using the following methodology:

1. Obtain school or learning space level enrolment data from school or learning space registers. If the disaggregated data by groups (e.g. for gender, ethnicity, disability, displacement status and/or other specific vulnerable groups, as relevant) is not available, then interview school or learning space administrators or teachers to get these figures.
2. Contact the local authorities or local leaders to get data on the population of school-aged children in the area and the population of vulnerable groups. Organisations supporting vulnerable groups can also be a very good source of information.
3. Calculate the indicator's value by dividing the proportion of children from the vulnerable group in the school or learning space by the proportion of vulnerable children in the population.
4. The indicator can reach values from 0 to more than 1. The higher the value, the more equitable the school or learning space is for the given group. If the indicator value equals 1, then the school or learning space ensures equitable participation of the given group.
5. For example, 5% of children in a target school are Roma but 30% of the school aged children in the target area are Roma. The subsequent calculation is then 0.05/0.30 = 0.17, showing non-equitable participation of Roma children in this school and potential for improvement.

5) Drop-out and/or retention rates can also be measured using a similar process. See related indicators on ‘Drop out’ and ‘Retention’ for more information on how to measure this indicator.

6) Reintegration into formal education is the goal of a learning space, and transition to formal schooling should be measured in addition to enrolment into the learning space. See related indicator on ‘Transition to Formal/Further Non-formal Education’ for more information.

7) Related indicators: 

    INEE

       - 2.1 Net attendance rate

    ECHO

       - KRI: Number of targeted girls and boys enrolled in formal education services

       - KRI: Number of targeted girls and boys enrolled in non-formal education services

    UNRWA

       - number of displaced UNRWA students enrolled in UNRWA schools

    IndiKit

       - % of members of the targeted communities who report that the most vulnerable and in-need population receives assistance (see Inclusion of Vulnerable Groups indicator)