Iniciativa Educação was in Terceira, Azores, to follow-up on the AaZ - Ler Melhor, Saber Mais programme. The Board of Iniciativa Educação met with the Coordinating Council for the Education System of the Azores on March 14, to discuss the evolution of the programme's implementation in this region.
The Iniciativa's delegation presented encouraging results to the President of the Regional Government of the Azores, José Manuel Bolieiro, the Regional Secretary for Education and Culture, Sofia Ribeiro, and the members of the Coordinating Council, indicating that some pupils had even surpassed the average results of their class after the programme's intervention.
In his statements to the media, Nuno Crato, President of Iniciativa Educação, confirmed that the outcomes were «very positive» and called for a greater awareness of the importance of reading, cautioning that «young students who cannot read, will also struggle to advance their education».
During the presentation of the programme's assessment, Sofia Ribeiro sought the members of the Coordinating Council to discuss the results with their school's pedagogical councils, ensuring that her office would «extend training on the AaZ programme to all interested teachers».
AaZ - Ler Melhor, Saber Mais is a partnership between Iniciativa Educação and the University of Minho, aimed first- and second-year primary school students in Portugal (aged between 5 and 8 years old) who face difficulties in learning how to read and write. The programme has been in force in the Azores since the academic year of 2019/2020, and has now reached more than 300 primary pupils in the nine islands of the archipelago.