The Regional Secretary for Education and Training revealed on Friday morning that the support to be awarded under the new School Welfare rules should reach more than 31 thousand student in the next school year.

Heard by the Standing Committee on Social Affairs about this proposal, Cláudia Cardoso said that currently there are 42 thousand students, of whom "24 thousand benefit from School Welfare support, being divided into four levels." The government official estimates that the number of beneficiaries may rise to nearly 31 thousand students, "who will not distributed by so many levels. However, we estimate that the students currently covered by the 2nd level will be integrated into the 1st level, hence increasing the financial support allocated to them."

After being approved and implemented, the new rules will also comprise "single-parent families that had been excluded from the previous School Welfare scheme, but who are now eligible to support," said Cláudia Cardoso.

Recalling that "the Azores have a very beneficial system, which is not comparable to Madeira or to Mainland Portugal," the Regional Secretary stressed that in the case of the Azores "the Regional Government supports transportation, meals, purchase of schoolbooks and other supplies." The Regional Secretary for Education and Training added that her department aims to "strengthen the support allocated to students" in accordance with their school level as "it does not make sense to allocate the same amount to a student attending elementary school and to a student attending secondary school."

Moreover, these rules require "an effort of transparency on the part of parents, who will be required to annually provide information on household income, which did not happened until now as "the proof of income was carried out at the end of each school level; in some cases it would took four years to make another proof of income."