IOM, in partnership with the Overseas Workers Welfare
Administration (OWWA), ushered in September with the roll- out of a
pilot secondary education subsidy scheme for children of Overseas
Filipino Workers (OFWs) and other disadvantaged youth.

Seventy-two children from participating high schools in the
province of Antique were awarded education subsidy support in a
ceremony attended by the Governor of Antique, and representatives
of IOM, OWWA, the Department of Education and participating school
heads.

In his remarks, Governor Exequiel B. Javier stressed the
importance of education to Filipino families and welcomed the
education subsidy in helping to address the high drop out rates in
secondary education.

The national secondary school drop-out rate in the Philippines
is close to 8 per cent and is usually attributed to poverty,
an inability to pay school fees and pressure to contribute to the
family income.

The pilot secondary education subsidy aims to keep up to 250
children in secondary school over the next two school years, who
would have otherwise dropped out or not enrolled for financial
reasons.

The scheme, which will provide a monthly allowance of PHP 1,000
(USD 21.50) for transport, food and other expenses, and PHP 500
(USD 10.75) for school-related fees, targets participating public
high schools in Masbate, Antique, Agusan del Sur and
Maguindanao.

The subsidy scheme is part of a Joint Programme
"Alternatives to Migration: Decent Jobs for Filipino
Youth" supported by the Spanish-funded Millennium Development
Goals (MDG) Achievement Fund and implemented jointly by IOM, the
International Labour Organization, the UN Children's Fund, and the
UN Population Fund.

For more information, please contact:

Ricardo Casco

IOM Manila

Tel: + 63.2.848.1260 Ext. 180

E-mail: "mailto:rcasco@iom.int">rcasco@iom.int