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“My dream is to become one of the teachers in our community to help the little children achieve their dreams, too, by getting good education.”

Thus said Manilyn Namoc when asked about her dream profession. Manilyn is now on her 6th grade at Cansibao Elementary School. Her mother is selling “kakanin” while his father is a foreman.

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The family income of the Namoc’s may seem to imperil Manilyn’s childhood dream but this does not mean it won’t happen anymore according to Evelyn, the mother of Manilyn.

“Manilyn is such a talented and gifted child. She loves Mathematics and chess is her favorite mind games. As a mother, I should not take this for granted. Thanks to CARD, Inc. for the education loan program they have provided us,” shared Evelyn.

Evelyn is one of the beneficiaries of the Zero Dropout Program offered by the four financial institutions of CARD Mutually Reinforcing Institutions (CARD MRI) including CARD, Inc. The program, which was launched in 2011, aims to provide education loan assistance to families with children in elementary to continuously send their children to school and eventually have better lives in the future.

Over the years, the elementary student-beneficiaries have already graduated to high school. Thus, the program extended its support to high school and senior high school students, following the same advocacy of zeroing the school dropouts.

The Zero Dropout Program was founded by the late Mr. Washington SyCip, founder of SyCip Gorres Velayo & Company (SGV & Co.) and the WS Family Foundation, together with his friends abroad in the Charles and Agnes Kazarian Eternal (CAKE) Foundation and CARD MRI. The education loan program was patterned to the regular microfinance program of CARD MRI but of smaller interest rate.

The program, according to CARD MRI Managing Director Flordeliza L. Sarmiento, was set to have a lower interest rate among the many loan products of CARD MRI because the goal is to provide financial assistance for schooling. “Education is a long-term investment. Hence, we need to adjust our process. Besides, the goal is to create future graduates who will be economic movers,” said Sarmiento. (CARD)

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