Brasília, November 3, 2003 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - Beginning next July, 1.3 million public high school students will start to receive free textbooks. The book distribution program was announced on Friday (31) by the Minister of Education, Cristovam Buarque, and its implantation will first get underway in schools in the North and Northeast regions.

The Minister informed that the project was one of the items in President Lula's election campaign program last year. The books were scheduled to be delivered in January, 2005, but R$ 40 million in resources already set aside in the 2004 Budget made it possible, according to Buarque, to anticipate this date by six months.

The program foresees a gradual increase in the number of students benefitted and books distributed. Next year, mathematics and Portuguese books will be handed out. In a later phase, books in all subjects. When the program is fully operational, it will require annual investments of R$ 570 million. When this amount is added to the resources used by the National School Textbook Program (PNLD) for public school students in fundamental education (grades 1-8), government investments can come to R$ 1 billion. According to the Minister, this measure has great economic importance. "This program will generate one hundred thousand jobs, will mean increased growth, and will produce R$ 330 million in taxes," he said.

There are approximately 8.7 million high school students in the country, 81% of them in the public school system. In 2005, all of them should be receiving their books. According to the Minister, those who will receive the greatest benefits are students who attend night classes. "They are, generally, the poorest," he said.

One of the most eagerly awaited results is an improvement in the quality of high school education. The secretary of Secondary and Technological Education, Antônio Ibañez, says that it is already established that "classes that have books do better than those that don't." (DAS)