The drop-out among Muslim girls, which was as high as 70 per cent, has been reduced to 35-40 per cent due to awareness and educational empowerment programmes of the government, Union Minister for Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said here on Saturday.

The government is working on a mission to bring down the drop-out rate to zero in the coming years, he said, laying the foundation stone for Anjuman-e-Islam's educational complex expansion project at the Dr. MIJ Girls High School & Junior College, Bandra.