‘Kids Read’ – the award-winning scheme developed by the British Council and supported by HSBC – was launched on January 27 in Binh Duong, Vietnam.

Illustrative photo

Since its debut in 2011 in 10 Middle Eastern and North African countries, Kids Read has reached over 50,000 children in government primary schools with an additional 15,000 children participating in community events with their parents. It is now moving to the Asia Pacific region with eight countries selected for roll-outs.

Kids Read was designed to encourage primary students to read for pleasure both in the classroom and at home. It will also help develop the English language skills of the future generation through access to the very best of UK children’s books. The launch ceremony saw Alec Williams, a well-known story-teller and reading champion from the UK, read two stories and a poem to a group of 30 primary students of fourth and fifth grades of Chanh My primary school.

In Vietnam, the scheme is first piloted in Binh Duong province where six primary schools will be given 74 titles of the UK’s best children books, 30 Primary teachers of English will be trained to integrate Kids Read activities into their current curriculum.

Over the course of one year, four thousand primary students from 6 participating schools will have an opportunity to read books, to join in story-telling competitions and thousands more will benefit from community activities run by HSBC volunteers such as reading and story-telling sessions, workshops for parents, amongst others.

Apart from Vietnam, the other seven countries selected for Kids Read’s roll-outs include Bangladesh, Hong Kong, Indonesia, the Republic of Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, and Thailand. Kids Read is launched in Vietnam amid a public sentiment which advocates reading when local media leaked a report that a Vietnamese person on average fails to finish a book a year.

Jon Glendinning, Director, British Council Ho Chi Minh City said “This is a very exciting opportunity for both the British Council and HSBC to collaborate on such a meaningful project to give young people access to English as a vital part of a child’s education in a globalised world.