LISBON, Dec. 9 (Xinhua) -- Portugal aims to reduce school drop-outs by 25 percent under a program to tackle school failure, the government said in a statement on Friday.
Total investment for the project will be 100 million euros (105.5 million U.S. dollars) through the European Social Fund, the Ministry of Planning and Infrastructure said.
The projects, which will be carried out by inter-municipal communities, in articulation with schools and local communities, should be presented until June 30, 2017, according to the statement.
According to figures by Portuguese statistics agency PORDATA, in 1992, 50 percent of young people between 18 and 24 dropped out of school before completing secondary education.
School dropout rates have been decreasing significantly since then, with the percentage of people in Portugal without secondary education dropping to 17.4 percent in 2014.
