This
may reflect the quality of schools but it may alternatively reflect the volatility of parental incomes, children being taken out of school in response to unanticipated
income shocks (e.g. Jacoby and Skoufias 1997). The completion rate is defined as the
ratio of the number of children aged 12 at the time of the survey who report having
completed primary school to the number of children aged 12 who report having
enrolled in primary school. Ideally, we would use longitudinal data that allow us to
follow a child through school, to completion. In the absence of such data,
retrospective information such as available in the NFHS for level of schooling,
completed at the time of the interview, is a second-best alternative.