Description
This indicator measures a government’s commitment to secondary education for girls in terms of access, enrollment, and completion. MCC uses this indicator for countries with a GNI per capita between $2,146 and $4,465 only.
Relationship to Growth & Poverty Reduction
Access to continued education beyond the primary level solidifies the benefits associated with girls’ primary education. Secondary education for girls ensures they receive both the benefits of primary education and the additional benefits linked to further education. Empirical research consistently shows a strong positive correlation between girls’ secondary education and faster economic growth, higher wages for women, slower population growth, and increased labor productivity.1 According to one estimate, a 1 percent increase in proportion of women enrolled in secondary school will generate a 0.3 percent growth in annual per-capita income.2 A large body of literature also shows that increasing a mother’s schooling has large effect on her children’s health, schooling, and adult productivity.3 The social benefits of female education are also demonstrated through postponed marriage and pregnancy, lower fertility rates, decreased child and maternal mortality, reduced transmission of HIV, and greater educational achievement by children.4 Overall, studies show that increased schooling and gender equality in education lead to poverty reduction and economic growth.5
Methodology
Indicator Institution Methodology
The Girls’ Lower Secondary Education Completion Rate indicator measures the percentage of girls in a particular age cohort that have completed lower secondary school within a few years of their expected graduate date. Lower secondary school is defined as a program typically designed to complete the development of basic skills and knowledge which began at the primary level. In many countries, the educational aim is to lay the foundation for lifelong learning and individual development. The programs at this level are usually on a subject-oriented pattern, requiring specialized teachers for each subject area. The end of this level often coincides with the end of compulsory education. For FY24, MCC will use the most recent UNESCO data from 2017 or later.
MCC Methodology
MCC uses the most recent data point in the past six years
MCC draws upon data from UNESCO’s Institute of Statistics as its exclusive source of data. Specifically, MCC uses the indicator named “Completion rate, lower secondary education, female (%)” which corresponds to SDG 4.1.2. To receive an FY24 score, countries must have a UNESCO value on “Completion rate, lower secondary education, female (%)” from 2017 or later. MCC uses the most recent year available that is, MCC uses the most recent data from the past six years. If a country does not have UNESCO data at any point from 2017 or later, it does not receive an FY24 score. As better data become available, UNESCO makes backward revisions to its historical data.
The Girls’ Lower Secondary Education Completion Rate indicator measures the percentage of a cohort of children or young people aged 3-5 years above the intended age for the last grade of each level of education who have completed that grade. The intended age for the last grade of each level of education is the age at which pupils would enter the grade if they had started school at the official primary entrance age, had studied full-time and had progressed without repeating or skipping a grade. This data is gathered from population censuses and household surveys which collect data on the highest level of education or grade completed by children and young people in a household.
In FY24 MCC revised its methodology for this indicator to shift from a focus on Girls’ Secondary Education Enrollment to Girls’ Lower Secondary Education Completion. As a result, the scores from FY24 are not comparable to scores from FY23 and earlier.
Source
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United National Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization Institute for Statistics (UNESCO/UIS)
UIS compiles primary education expenditure data from official responses to surveys and from reports provided by education authorities in each country.