3 regions have most number of schools with zero dropout rate

PAGADIAN CITY, Zamboanga del Sur, Philippines - The Department of Education (DepEd) has recognized three regions in Mindanao as having the most number of public high schools (HSs) with zero dropout rate in the country in school year (SY) 2010-2011. A memorandum issued by Education Secretary Armin Luistro received recently here by DepEd Region 9 Director Walter Albos largely attributed the reduction of the number of HS students in Mindanao and other parts of the country to the intensified implementation of the agency’s five-year-old Dropout Reduction Program (DORP). Albos said Luistro’s memorandum pronounced that Caraga (Region 13), led by Director Gloria Benigno, recorded the biggest number of high schools - 187 - with zero incidence of dropout among the agency’s 17 regions. Two other Southern Philippine regions - the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and Western Mindanao or Zamboanga Peninsula (Region 9) were listed Nos. 3 and 4, respectively, with the former recording 99 and the latter 98 high schools producing zero dropout rate, Albos said.