Years of effort by the Ministry of Education (MOE) to foster a reading culture and cultivate students' reading habits is paying off, with Taiwan's elementary and junior high school students showing considerable improvements in international education rankings, Jiang said at today's Cabinet meeting.
In its report on reading promotion efforts, the MOE said that Taiwan placed 9th in the 2011 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) and 8th in the 2012 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), making it to the top 10 on both lists for the first time. This represents jumps of 13 and 15 notches respectively from the 2006 PIRLS and 2009 PISA ratings.
Jiang asked the MOE to consolidate the resources of local governments, schools, and private organizations to create a quality literacy environment—one that will instill good reading habits in students from elementary and junior high school on.
Jiang also affirmed Taichung City Deputy Mayor Tsai Ping-kun's suggestion to foster a reading culture not only for students but also the general public. "Measures should be taken to encourage reading among senior high students through adults as well, and the task should not be limited to the MOE's Department of Lifelong Learning but should include other ministries as well. We can set up facilities and resources across the country—at transport stations, hospitals, health clinics, private inns, hotels, temples, social welfare offices, banks, district administrative offices, shelters and military bases." The premier urged ministry leaders to support their subordinate agencies in building a reading society, and welcomed citizens to donate books and share the fun of reading.
The MOE has launched several campaigns such as Book Start, Morning Reading 123, and Reading for Pleasure 101 to encourage reading among preschool, elementary and junior high school students. It has also hired more teaching staff to promote library activities, upgraded school library facilities, and subsidized reading programs at remote schools. In particular, a public library program to enlarge book collections increased the number of book checkouts from 14.85 million in 2009 to 16.02 million in 2012.