The effective transition rate from primary to secondary education conveys the degree of access or transition between the two levels. As completing primary education is a prerequisite for participating in lower secondary education, growing numbers of primary completers will inevitably create pressure for more available places at the secondary level. A low effective transition rate can signal such problems as an inadequate examination and promotion system or insufficient secondary education capacity.
Progression to secondary school, male (%)
The quality of data on the transition rate is affected when new entrants and repeaters are not correctly distinguished. Students who interrupt their studies after completing primary education could also affect data quality.
Progression to secondary school refers to the number of new entrants to the first grade of secondary school in a given year as a percentage of the number of students enrolled in the final grade of primary school in the previous year (minus the number of repeaters from the last grade of primary education in the given year).
Effective transition rate is calculated by dividing the number of new entrants in the first grade of secondary education in a given year (t) by the number of students who enrolled in the final grade of primary education in the previous school year (t-1) minus the number of repeaters from the last grade of primary education in the given year (t), and multiplying by 100. 
Data on education are collected by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics from official responses to its annual education survey. All the data are mapped to the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) to ensure the comparability of education programs at the international level. The current version was formally adopted by UNESCO Member States in 2011. 

The reference years reflect the school year for which the data are presented. In some countries the school year spans two calendar years (for example, from September 2010 to June 2011); in these cases the reference year refers to the year in which the school year ended (2011 in the example).