Semakan pada 12:06, 19 Jun 2013

340

Penduduk boleh diklasifikasikan mengikut bahasa¹ atau dialek² yang digunakan. Terdapat perbezaan antara bahasa ibunda³ seseorang iaitu bahasa yang digunakan di rumah pada zaman kanak-kanak dan bahasa harian⁴ iaitu bahasa yang biasanya digunakan oleh seseorang. Perbezaan antara kedua-duanya adalah jelas dalam kalangan mereka yang dwibahasa⁵ atau berbilang bahasa⁵. Statistik berkaitan perkara ini dipanggil statistik bahasa⁶.

341

Statistik agama¹ membahagikan penduduk mengikut fahaman keagamaan. Terdapat perbezaan antara agama-agama² utama and their principal denominations³, rites⁴ or sects⁵. Persons who have no religion may describe themselves as agnostics⁶, freethinkers⁶ or atheists⁶.

342

The population is also often classified by educational status¹. ( Individuals who can read and write are called literate²; those who have reached a certain age and cannot are illiterate³. Often completion of a particular grade or level of schooling is assumed to confer literacy. Educational attainment statistics⁴ classify individuals by grade attainment⁵, years of school completed⁵ or, more rarely, by age at leaving school⁶. Another type of classification is based upon the diploma⁷, degree⁷ or certificate⁷ obtained, and depends on the organization of instruction⁸ in each country.

343

The education system¹ includes all institutions, public and private providing instruction in a country. Where both types exist a distinction is made between public education² and private education³. After pre-school education⁴, it is usual to distinguish between three levels of education⁵ which are in ascending order: primary education⁶, secondary education⁷, itself often divided into several cycles⁸ or tracks⁸, and higher education⁹. The latter includes, among others, courses of study that lead to a university degree¹¹. Technical education¹² or vocational education¹² may be offered either at the secondary or higher education level.

344

Types of educational institutions¹ and their names are a function of each country’s particular educational system. Pre-school education (343-4) is offered in nursery schools² or kindergartens². The institutions that offer the three levels of education mentioned above (343-5) are usually called respectively: primary schools³ or elementary schools³, secondary schools⁴ and colleges⁵ or universities⁵; in addition to the latter, there may be various kinds of professional schools⁶.

345

A class¹ (cf. 130-8) is a group of pupils² with the same teacher³ who meet in the same class-room⁴ and are generally instructed simultaneously. A group of pupils who are at the same level of educational advancement are said to be in the same grade⁵ in the United States of America, or in the same class⁵ or form⁵ (cf. 206-1), in Great Britain. The term student⁶ is generally used for those receiving higher education, but is also interchangeable with "pupil" at the secondary level.

346

Current school statistics¹ may distinguish between the number of pupils enrolled² and the number of pupils in attendance³. A comparison of these two figures gives an attendance ratio⁴. Compulsory education⁵ implies the existence of a range of ages where school attendance is obligatory by law. This makes it possible to specify the number of children of school age⁶ or the school-age population⁷ according to a legal criterion.

347

Other statistics concern educational progression. An individual progresses normally grade by grade, from the lowest class of elementary school, to the end of his studies. Leaving school¹, where compulsory education is enforced, is exceptional during school age, barring illness or death. The dropout rate² is the probability of leaving school before obtaining a degree, either during the year or at the end of a grade, and it is constructed in the same way as a probability of dying in a life table; its complement to one is the retention rate³. Such rates can be used to compute a table of school life⁴, from which it is possible to infer the mean length of education⁵. At the end of the school year, pupils or students who do not terminate their studies, may either repeat the grade or move on to the next grade, with or without change of track⁶.

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