BINALONAN–President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo challenged the local government and education officials here to bring down the dropout rate of students to less than five percent by next year.

That percentage is the target set for 2015 by the United Nations for the Millenium Development Goal (MDGs) on universal primary education.

Arroyo, quoting Education Secretary Jesli Lapus, said UNESCO itself has already conceded that the goal would unlikely be achieved by many of the countries.

“But even if the world may not be able to achieve it by 2015, with all our efforts here, Binalonan will be able to achieve it,” the President said whose mother is a native of this town.

Arroyo, who was on her annual homecoming visit, lauded local efforts to implement the Standardization on the Pre-school Curriculum for five year olds intended to increase the participation rate for grade 1 level.

Arroyo, accompanied by local officials led by Governor Amado Espino Jr., also inaugurated a new e-library named after her mother, the late Doña Eva Macaraeg, and a two storey, four classroom building at the Binalonan South Central School.

The e-library, with its 35,000 book holdings and internet connection, aims to serve the entire school division for eastern Pangasinan.

The President also led the promotion of the Essential Health Care Package under the WHO-UNICEF’s program on “Health Promoting Schools” in public elementary schools and daycare centers.

The program seeks to reduce neglected childhood diseases such as parasitic infections and dental problems, which are common causes of absenteeism among schoolchildren. #

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