In an effort to improve Vietnam’s reading culture, the national government recently greenlit a countrywide project to get citizens to read more books.
On March 15, Vice President Vu Duc Dam approved a program titled “Developing reading culture in the community” containing specific measures in two phases: from now to 2020 and from 2020 to 2030, reports Tuoi Tre.
Specifically, the project sets a goal to encourage locals to read four books on average per year by 2020. At the community level, the government also hopes to get Vietnamese to make greater use of local libraries. The aim is to reach as many as 300 million library visits annually.
The reading campaign includes school libraries as well, as it also aims to provide at least 80% of students at local schools with access to proper services at public and school libraries.
It remains to be seen if the ambitious campaign will work as few details have been given regarding concrete steps to reach the aforementioned goals. However, it’s certainly going in the right direction, considering that just last year an industry expert claimed that on average, Vietnamese only manage to read one book per year.
[Photo via List Challenges]