​Poor reading culture, lack of facilities blamed for low reading rate in Vietnam

Experts converged on the central Vietnamese city of Da Nang on June 29 and 30 for a national seminar on reading, where they discussed the reasons behind and solutions for improving the country’s poor reading rate, as well as the development of friendly library models.

The education insiders said at the conference that Vietnamese people read only 1.2 books per person per year, which they said were "startling statistics."

By comparison, an average Indian and Thai spends 10.42 hours and 9.24 hours reading per week, respectively. American people generally spend 5.42 hours reading per week.

Experts attributed Vietnam’s poor reading rate to the lack of library facilities at schools across the country.

According to Trinh Hoai Thu, an education ministry official in charge of library management for elementary schools, many Vietnamese schools currently do not have their own libraries or full-time librarians, with most of them having redundant staff in charge of library work.

“One-third of school libraries nationwide have not met the requirement on space,” Thu said.

Deputy Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Huu Do, on the other hand, emphasized the importance of building and developing reading habits for children.

Particularly, Do mentioned Room to Read, a leading nonprofit for children's literacy and girls' education programs at work in Vietnam, as a successful example of building a reading culture.

The model of friendly school libraries by Room to Read has been deployed in 16 provinces across the country with the goal of building independent readership among elementary students since 2016, according to the deputy minister.

“On average, each student at the schools that have a Room to Read library borrowed 17.2 books to read at home in 2017,” Do said.

By the end of 2017, the number of libraries had been expanded to 443 in Vietnamese provinces, based on the model of Room to Read and funded by the private sector.

Friendly library models

During the course of the two-day seminar in Da Nang, more than 150 delegates representing the Ministry of Education and Training, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and education departments of 63 provinces and cities nationwide also toured an exhibition of friendly library models.

The delegates also actively shared on effective library models that have been deployed in their localities.

For instance, representatives from the northern province of Lao Cai introduced the model of bookcases set in the village and linking library activities with learning activities, including storytelling and writing competitions.

Their peers from Hoa Binh Province mentioned the models of ‘green libraries’ and ‘corner libraries' that allow students to access books anytime, anywhere.

Tran Tuan Anh, who represented Thai Binh, won appreciation from other delegates after introducing the model of bookcases built by students’ parents in his province.