The Regional Secretary for Education and Culture said today that the proposed Plan and Budget for 2016 "confirms that Education, Culture and Sport are priorities for the Government of the Azores," stressing that the allocated funds "enable the maintenance and increase of development initiatives.”

Avelino Meneses spoke at the Legislative Assembly during the debate of the proposed Regional Plan and Budget for 2016.  The government official added that, in terms of investment, the Regional Secretariat "increased from nearly 81 million Euros to almost 90 million Euros between 2015 and 2016, a growth of about 8.7 million Euros, i.e., 11%."

"This is evident in the areas of Education, Culture and Sport, although the latter is a negative priority due to the lack of Community aid," added the government official.

Avelino Meneses specified that "the investment in Education grew from 56 million Euros to nearly 62 million Euros, an increase of 5.9 million Euros that represents a growth of 10.5% . In Culture, "the allocated amount registered an increase from 15.5 million Euros to nearly 17,250,000 Euros, which corresponds to an additional amount of 1,775,000 million Euros, i.e., a growth of 11.5%. In turn, the investment in Sport "grows from 9.5 million Euros to nearly 10.5 million Euros, representing an increase of one million Euros, i.e., 11%."

According to the Regional Secretary, there has been a "reinforcement on three key actions in Education, particularly in educational projects, to "ensure the success of ProSucesso," in social support "to ensure more access opportunities to Education," and in school buildings to guarantee the consolidation and modernisation of schools."

With the implementation of ProSucesso - Azores for Education, Programme for the Promotion of School Success, which started in the school year 2015/2016, "we redoubled the investment in education."

"In public schools, when the number of students drops by 1,000 and when the number of teachers increased by 266, everything requires an increased investment that will contribute to prevention and remediation of learning problems, ensuring our children and youth a successful educational path," stressed the government official.

"In this process, we are guided by the so-called 2020 Strategy, with too demanding goals for the Azores, which require the reduction of early school dropout by 10% and the achievement of a 40% rate of graduates," said Avelino Meneses.
 
In his speech, the government official assured that the goal for a multi-year term, never yearly, concerns the convergence of professional and academic qualifications of the Azoreans with the citizens from other member states of the European Union."

According to Avelino Meneses, this is "effectively" the purpose of ProSucesso that, over time, will "certainly contribute to the evolution from a more defeatist state of concern to a more successful state of occupation." In this regard, the government official noted that "the main purpose of this programme lies in the desire of all students to achieve academic success."

Therefore, the Regional Secretary considered that this programme to promote school success "is one of the most important challenges for the future of the archipelago" in order to "build a school that is simultaneously inclusive and competitive."

In the area of Culture, the funding increase will be directed to projects designed to revitalise cultural activities, with an increase of 50 thousand Euros from 2015 to 2016; the financial support now stands at 900 thousand Euros. The safeguarding and recovery of the architectural and cultural heritage is another priority, where there will be a series of works and projects that "will completely change the regional museum scene," stressed the Regional Secretary.

In this area, Avelino Meneses stated that "we are simultaneously guided by the past, whose heritage must be preserved, and the future, through an effort to revitalise our cultural institutions and the creative stimulus of our cultural agents."

With regard to the protection and valuation of movable and immovable heritage, the "main" concern is to "reconcile tradition with modernity" so that "the people do not become the enemy of heritage. Instead, they should be the main defender of heritage so that it is not considered a nuisance but rather as an added value for citizens and communities."

Thus, the initial procedure lies in the community's "awareness" is "essential for the safeguarding of the immovable heritage against all kind of corruption as well as for the safeguarding of movable heritage against the danger of loss, aggravated by the absence of proper registration." The government official defended that "a coercive intervention" is only justifiable after this "prophylaxis."

Maritime archaeology, the construction of museums and the revision of museography methods that "provides each of our islands with a museum unit with appropriate size and undeniable quality" as well as the support to the promotion of cultural activities and training of cultural agents, namely young musicians, were other goals mentioned by the Regional Secretary.

Avelino Meneses also stressed that the increase of funds in sport," fully supported by the regional budget," derives from three works planned for this area: the construction of a judo hall on S. Jorge, the 2nd phase of the renewal of Santo Espírito Sports Hall and the redevelopment of the running track of João Paulo II Stadium on Terceira.
 
The Regional Secretary for Education and Culture stressed that sport in the Azores "is actually an activity of all and for all." Its practice, particularly in competitive terms, "is also a school of life" insofar as "it teaches discipline to participants, which mitigates the drawbacks of an extreme involvement and an extreme occupation."

Avelino Meneses stressed that the Government predicts a "bright future" for the Azorean sport, because the training levels correspond "to more than ¾ of the total athletes who belong to a sports association." The rate of female participation has doubled since 1995 and the absolute sports participation rate of 9.5%, equivalent to almost twice the national average.

All this suggests that, in the area of sport, "the Azores continue to be the best national example," said Avelino Meneses.

"With more practitioners, with better results, no wonder that we already have Azorean athletes competing for Olympic Games and Paralympic Games," said the government official.