The text analyses the National Programme of School Scholarships based on an evaluation of the first initiatives and their ramifications, in the period from August 2001 to November 2002. It seeks to sustain the view that the Programme was planned as a wide-ranging educational proposal, which extrapolates the school walls. The proposal seeks to contribute on at least three levels. Firstly, by favouring poor children's access to and permanence in the school, it undertakes affirmative actions of a universalistic nature. Secondly, by requiring the development of socio-educational actions, it is able to promote activities which give value to the cultural diversity of local populations. And thirdly, by proposing to follow up the actions by means of a council made up of members of the community it sets in motion a process aimed at the construction of citizenship.
school scholarship; policy of affirmative action