Save the Children (SC) recently hosted a “National Reading Day” in Hanoi to support the development of children's reading habits.

Mom and kid enjoy reading at the National Reading Day 2019

The event, held on Jun 14, brought together over 200 students, parents and teachers from Yen Bai and Quang Nam province along with representatives of the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), Ministry of Education and Training and NGOs including Room to Read, Childfund, PLAN and World Vision.

During the National Reading Day, educational experts and project support officers of SC presented the result of recent research on reading habits among ethnic minority children in Yen Bai and Quang Nam, discussed measures and best practices to develop reading habits, enhance access to and availability of reading materials, exchange reading approaches at home for children.

Furthermore, participants also exchange views on strengthening the implementation of the national program on improving Vietnamese for pre-school and primary ethnic minority children 2016-2020 and towards 2025.

The National Reading Day gave primary students an opportunity to access to books of various categories such as: fairy tales, science, soft skills, etc. Especially, the event also offered a playground for kids, parents and teachers to take part in interactive book-related games. Those were useful activities to help young readers consolidate their understanding of book content and practice their reading skills as well.

Ethnic students participate in an interactive game

Held during summertime, National Book Reading Day attracted not only Dao, H’Mong, Co Tu students of ethnic minorities such as from Quang Nam and Yen Bai, but also primary school students in Hanoi.

The “National Reading Day” was part of the project “Enhancing the school readiness and learning outcomes of ethnic minority in Vietnam”. This project aims to extend the measures of developing foundational literacy and math skills for children.

The measure has been implemented by SC in over 150 countries since 2009 and proved its effectiveness.

In Vietnam, SC has applied this approach in educational projects in Yen Bai, Dien Bien, Hai Phong, Quang Nam, Can Tho, Tien Giang, prioritizing remote and poor areas.

Key activities include providing reading facilities, training courses for teachers and parents, building “friendly reading corner” at schools, holding “Reading Day” event, etc.

Being held in summer, the event also attracts students from Hanoi.

After being implemented for one year, the project has generated impressive results, providing training to 4,000 teachers; 58,000 kids com to read in 65 reading corners. 6.000 textbooks was donated to students in 12 primary schools.

Vuong Dinh Giap, Director of Program Implementation of Save the Children, said “Save the Children has 100 years of experience working for children worldwide. Our approaches to promote reading habits and develop foundational literacy and math skills for children have been implemented in countries all over the world. Through this project and other education projects, we desire to replicate these approaches in Vietnam, contributing to the development of Vietnamese children, especially ethnic minority children in remote and mountainous areas who are facing a lot of challenges to access quality education”.