Concept:
- The blank asks for the form in which a figure is reported, and the form is chosen so that different places can be compared fairly.
- Asking which form makes comparison easiest gives the answer directly.
Step 1: State the comparison problem.
One state may have ten lakh children of school age and another only one lakh. Raw numbers of children attending school would say nothing useful, because the larger state would always appear to be doing better.
Step 2: Ask which form solves it.
Expressing the figure out of a hundred puts every state on the same scale. A
percentage immediately tells us how many children out of every hundred are in school.
Step 3: Test the alternatives against that need.
A fraction carries the same information but is awkward to compare when the denominators differ. A ratio such as 4 to 5 is harder to read at a glance. An index is a combined figure built from several measures and is not what a single attendance figure is called.
Step 4: Confirm with the definition.
Net Attendance Ratio is defined as the number of children aged 6 to 10 attending school as a percentage of the total number of children in that age group, which settles the answer.
Final Answer: (B) Percentage