Common Enrolment Patterns, Grade Repetition and Unique Cases: International Comparative Analysis on Enrolment Status

This chapter compares enrolment status in primary education in Honduras, Nepal and Myanmar and analyses similarities and differences among the three countries. The study also examines the factors that hinder children from continuing their studies by addressing factors that are frequently mentioned by previous studies such as the reality of grade repetition and temporary dropout and the relationship between grade repetition and dropout and age at school entry. The results demonstrated that for all target countries, the two most common patterns were straight progress graduation, in which children advanced to the next grade without grade repetition or temporary dropout and graduated, and early dropout after registration. In terms of the relationship between grade repetition and dropout, the study found that a number of children without grade repetition suddenly dropped out of school and that a large number of children underwent grade repetition but eventually graduated. These results imply that grade repetition cannot be inferred as the primary cause of dropout. Moreover, the study noted the negative effects of being overage, which points to the importance of age at school entry. Although many similarities were observed, the study identified extraordinary patterns in Honduras and Nepal but not in Myanmar.