The Regional Secretary for Education and Culture stated in Praia da Vitória that the increase of reading "is a priority" for the Government of the Azores in the fight against school failure.
 
Avelino Meneses spoke in an open lecture on the life and work of Azorean writer Daniel de Sá delivered by Dionísio de Sousa. The government official stressed this priority with the fact that the Azorean Government approved the Regional Reading Plan in mid-2011, precisely in order "to increase literacy levels and bring the Region closer to Europe's best examples."
 
According to Avelino Meneses, the relevance reading and books has led to the "promotion" of a regional network of school libraries; the latter are "spaces of multiple learning insofar as reading, being a useful and recreational activity, is an essential support throughout the educational path."
 
"Hence, instead of being contemplative services of educational activities, the libraries should complement educational services. Likewise, instead of being services to be mainly used by teachers, as it happened in the past, libraries should be at the service of students, who, in turn, must be encouraged to use them," said the government official.
 
School libraries are "services that have the potential to establish fruitful a relation between schools and between schools and the community."
 
With the implementation of ProSucesso - Azores for Education, programme for the promotion of school success, in this school year, books and reading "have acquired an even greater relevance."
 
For the Regional Secretary, it makes sense that we speak of "the figure and work" of Daniel de Sá who, among many activities developed throughout his life, was president of the Scientific Committee of the Regional Reading Plan.
 
With regard to Daniel de Sá, a major figure of Azorean letters, to whom Dionísio Sousa recently dedicated his book "Daniel de Sá – A serena sabedoria" (Daniel de Sá - The serene wisdom), Avelino Meneses stressed his "courage," a quality "he has always possessed" whenever he addressed certain topics that "clashed with somewhat questionable historical interpretations."
 
"In an archipelago that is united by the sea, but that is still divided by many walls, whether they are made of stone and hydrangeas or, more commonly, made of incomprehension, he [Daniel de Sá] was the true writer of all of us. Therefore, he poured out words in the newspapers of several islands, oblivious to the artificiality of our borders," said the Regional Secretary for Education and Culture.