Parliament approved the measures suggested by the PCP (Portuguese Communist Party) and the BE (Left Bloc), which see that schoolbooks will be free in public schools. The measure would cover manuals for all the mandatory schooling years, which in Portugal are up until twelfth grade, the last year of secondary education.


The approved proposals will now be forwarded for discussion in the parliamentary commission on Education.


The proposals also include the modality of book-lending, which students, after completing the school year, return their manuals to the school in order for them to be used by their upcoming colleagues.


The measures are being pushed under the guise of social justice, and even environmental protection.