In the first week of the program, around twenty thousand vouchers for books were issued, which corresponds to about 10% of the total, but only a quarter of these beneficiaries have already exchanged them for books, according to official data.
On November 4, the check-Livro program began, an initiative of the Ministry of Culture, based on a proposal from the Portuguese Association of Publishers and Booksellers (APEL), which aims to promote reading habits and encourage the frequency of bookstores among the young ones. adults.
The 2024 edition covers a total of 220 thousand young people residing in Portugal, who were born in 2005 and 2006 (that is, who turned 18 in 2023 and 2024) and the final date for the exchange is April 23, 2025.
According to the General Directorate of Books, Archives and Libraries (DGLAB), in the first week of the program’s execution, between November 4 and 10, 19,891 book vouchers were issued, which corresponds to 9% of the universe of eligible young people. .
Of that total of book checks issued, 5,624 were used, that is, 28.27%, adds the DGLAB, in a publication.
The APEL data differ slightly, although in percentage terms they are around the same magnitude: 22 thousand checks issued in one week, which corresponds to 10% of the total.
However, the APEL bulletin that publishes this most recent data says nothing about the number of checks that have already been cashed.
The book voucher, intended for the purchase of books, has a value of 20 euros, which can be discounted for the purchase of books of equal or greater value.
Purchases with this check can only be made in bookstores participating in the program and school manuals, dictionaries and study support books are excluded.
Candidates for the book voucher can request it through the platform www.souleitor.pt, where the participating bookstores are also marked.
According to the DGLAB, as of November 10, 265 bookstores had joined the program.
The check-Livro program was approved by the previous Government, but its application has only recently materialized due to delays in the creation of the platform that executes it, which also motivated a change in the regulation so that its application can be extended until April 2025. .
The book bonus is a measure proposed by APEL, which defended the allocation of 100 euros to 18-year-olds for the purchase of books, but the previous Government decided to set the amount at 20 euros and limited the benefit to around 200,000 people.
However, last week, Livre announced its intention to propose in the budget that the book voucher go from 20 to 100 euros, and be extended to other cultural assets, based on a study to be carried out.
“It is a measure that we welcome, but 20 euros is not enough and it seems to us that it should be increased. Therefore, we are going to propose increasing the book voucher, which already exists, to 100 euros, because this gives many more possibilities to buy more books and a greater variety of books,” said the parliamentary leader of Livre, on November 7 , in a press conference at the Assembly of the Republic.
Livre will also propose that a study be carried out to extend this control “to all types of culture”, allowing access to other cultural goods, such as plays or film sessions, he added.
When approving this measure, in December 2023, the socialist executive revealed that the program would have an endowment of 4.4 million euros, through the Cultural Promotion Fund.
Source: Observadora
