The Regional Government is concluding a proposal for Regional Legislative Decree on School Welfare, said the Regional Secretary for Education, Science and Culture in the city of Horta today.

Speaking at the Legislative Assembly, Luiz Fagundes Duarte stressed the Government's proposal, which covers the textbook loan programme, aims to overcome the incompatibility between two legal documents on School Welfare, one dates back to 2007 and the other in 2013.

The Regional Secretary revealed that the legislation currently in force "allows the student who are not covered by the School Welfare system to benefit from a reimbursement of 80% in the purchase of textbooks," which is an injustice to those who are truly in need."

"In 2013, a total of 161 students enrolled in the textbook loan programme, but were not covered by School Welfare (Level 5). If these student fail to return the textbooks by the end of this school year, the 20% deposit will not be refunded and the remaining 80% will have to be supported by School Welfare system," stressed the government official.

In this context, he considered that the "loan programme established by this decree [2012] allows students to benefit from this measure even though they are not School Welfare beneficiaries."

For these reasons, said Luiz Fagundes Duarte, "the legal document that will be soon presented to the Legislative Assembly comprises the contents of both decrees, but it will also introduce the amendments deemed necessary to ensure equal opportunities for students. The legal document provides support for students who really need it and, through the identifications of flaw in the two previous documents, prevent students who are not covered by School Welfare to benefit from these support measures."

"Hence, the implementation of the provisions on the legal document regulating the textbook loan programme does not prevent schools from implementing the decree on School Welfare on the same matter, which brings out the weaknesses detected in both," said the government official.

The Regional Secretary for Education, Science and Culture also ensured that "the Regional Inspectorate of Education is on the field to check the practices carried out by schools on this matter." If any abnormal situation is detected, it will be solved "by the end of May."